Tag: Fenerbahce

  • Istanbul United: Istanbul Review

    Istanbul United: Istanbul Review

    Farid Eslam and Olli Waldhauer document how fanatical soccer fans supporting rival Istanbul teams cast their loyalties aside to fight the Turkish government’s controversial urban redevelopment plans.

    istanbul_united_stillPurportedly inspirational films about sports bringing erstwhile antagonistic groups together have been omnipresent on screen for decades: get the ball rolling, as this subgenre goes, and warring soldiers (as in the French first-world-war drama Merry Christmas) or people with contrasting socio-political attitudes (The Blind Side,Invictus) could easily be reconciled. But first-time filmmakersFarid Eslam and Olli Waldhauer have offered a slight twist to the norm, with the documentary actually noting how diehard fans of Istanbul’s three leading soccer teams cast their bitter rivalries aside to join up in protesting against the Turkish government’s urban redevelopment plans.

    With its vibrant interviewees, powerful images and an incredible narrative, Istanbul United is a spectacle to behold and a radiant record of the Turkish city’s cultural and social make-up of the present day; making its world premiere at – where else? – the Istanbul International Film Festival, the film is ecstatically received by an audience ever ready to laugh (at the over-the-top fanaticism on show) and jeer (at footage of Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan) during the screening. A crowd-funded crowd-pleaser which manages to set blood boiling and hearts stirring, but non-Istanbullus would find its upbeat united-we-stand message ironically undermined by incomprehensibility, incoherence and in some cases unintended contradictions.

    Timed for release just as sports fans ready themselves for the onslaught of the World Cup soccer tournament in Brazil in June, Istanbul United is about soccer and politics. The emphasis is certainly on the former, with the city’s intense club rivalries meticulously delineated – lifelong hardcore supporters of Galatasaray, Fenerbahce and Besiktas are shown hyped up to their eyeballs on the stands, while talking heads of three fan-group leaders’ explanations about their near-fundamentalist attachment to their teams are followed by archive news footage of acts of extreme hooliganism inside and outside stadiums.

    It’s not like the three leading interviewees are hooligans, mind, as their recollections about their unyielding commitment to their clubs are laced with remarks about how problems in sports and society converge: Galatasaray fan Kerem Gurbuz muses on how the fans’ communalism could be transformed into a force of good, Fenerbahce ultra Cahat Binici complains about soccer being turned into an industrial, capitalistic machine, and the grey-haired Besiktas’ Ayhan Gunerdescribing his mission of running the Carsi fan faction as “anarchism and rebellion” in action.

    These are thoughts left dangling like misplaced passes, enticing opportunities falling on players without a gameplan. Without broadening the discussion by noting how the fans’ fury correlates with social problems, the film abruptly jumps (from a sequence of fans singing foul-mouthed songs on the stands against the opposition team) to last summer’s protests at Gezi Park, in reaction to the government’s plan to replace the whole place with lavish commercial and residential projects. As police brutality against the demonstrators escalates, the soccer fans are seen mobilizing and finally ending up with sworn enemies marching alongside each other in a united front against the establishment.

    It’s certainly one of the most extraordinary moments the city has ever witnessed; but Istanbul Unitednever really accounts properly this rare occasion. Rarefied, more like: there was neither build-up to this climactic moment, nor enough explanation about what happened then and what that means for the future. Activists and journalists are heard praising the soccer fans’ efforts as a powerful show of strength against the authorities’ increasing authoritarian tendencies – which in the past few weeks are manifested in Erdogan’s attempts to block Twitter and YouTube in Turkey – but the legacy is not exactly sufficiently explained to those living outside Istanbul.

    Eslam and Waldhauer would have delivered closure by ending with the three ultras‘ accounts of their altered perspectives about soccer and society. The film’s denoument, however, is akin to snatching defeat from the jaws of a historic victory by scoring multiple own goals at stoppage time: barely has Binici finished telling a boy to “fight those who sow hate among us” that a group of fellow Fenerbahce fans nearby begin yet another round of expletive-laden songs against their rivals, while patriotism/nationalism rears its head as the national anthem is played out at a Besiktas match, an image risking a signal of everyone returning to old-school reverence towards the state machine. (The absence in the film of the city’s “fourth club”, the Erdogan-worshipping Kasimpasa, should also be noted.)

    It’s as if the visceral excitement has come to nowt as a sentimentalized, vague notion takes its place: the early promise of revolutionary change – heightened by fluid camerawork and editing – slowly dissipates. With Erdogan having just attained a handsome triumph in the country’s municipal elections despite constant protests on Istanbul’s high street – along which the festival’s main venues, where Istanbul United made its bow – the same old seems to have taken hold; without properly structuring its decidedly explosive interviews and images – many of which could well be employed as mirroring components, metaphors and so on – Eslam and Waldhauer’s debut is a clarion call but not enough to be a harbinger of a markedly changeable future.

    Venue: Istanbul International Film Festival (Documentary Time with NTV section), Apr. 12, 2014

    Production Companies: Nippes Yard, Port-au-Prince, ‘D Riot, Taskovski, Vox Pictures

    Directors: Farid Eslam, Olli Waldhauer

    Producers: Olli Waldhauer, Tina Schoepkewitz, Farid Eslam, Jan Krueger

    Director of Photography: Paul Roissant

    Editors: Fridolin Koerner, Joerg Offer

    International Sales: Nippes Yard, Port-au-Prince

    In English and Turkish

    88 minutes

  • Toni Schumacher: Turkey is a great promoter of football

    Toni Schumacher: Turkey is a great promoter of football

    The former West Germany international has insisted that his time with Fenerbahce was simply amazing, and feels it is a surprise that the national side have failed to perform on the big stage

    Toni Schumacher Turkey is a great promoter of football 203467

    Former FC Koln, FC Schalke 04 and Fenerbahce custodian Toni Schumacher has stressed that the environment in Turkish stadiums is unparalleled in the game. He claimed that people in Turkey take football very seriously as he plied his trade with the Istanbul side for three years.

    The Germany legend was left in awe with the sporting traditions in the country. He stated that it is a treat for football fanatics to experience a game in Turkey. The 2013 Under-20 World Cup will be hosted in the country and the former coach suggested that it is a wise decision to hold the competition there.

    “To experience a match in a Turkish stadium with these supporters is the ultimate for any football fan,” he was quoted as saying in an interview.

    The 58-year-old believes that the locals will be honoured to organise the event as it is a golden opportunity for them to display their love for football. He expects the Turkish people to make sure that this will become a successful event. Moreover, it will present a good chance for the youngsters to show their talent at crowded stadiums.

    “Knowing the Turkish people as I do, they’ll be unbelievably proud to host this tournament. It’s a wonderful opportunity for them to show what they can do. I’m sure they’ll take this chance and do everything they can to make sure everyone has a great time,” he added.

    “The stadiums are going to be packed and it’s going to be something really special for all the young players involved,” he finally concluded.

    Toni played 65 games for the Kadikoy outfit and helped them win the domestic league in 1989. He further added that Turkey can do well in the tournament as they have a lot of potential in their ranks. He revealed that even though they have not featured regularly in the major competitions, they are recognised as a very good and creative team.

    via Toni Schumacher: Turkey is a great promoter of football | bettor.com.

  • Boston Celtics In Istanbul With Very Different Team for the 2012-13 NBA Season  Read more: http://www.irishcentral.com/story/sport/sports-central/boston-celtics-in-istanbul-with-very-different-team-for-the-2012-13-nba-season-172873081.html#ixzz28WiPhyR9

    Boston Celtics In Istanbul With Very Different Team for the 2012-13 NBA Season Read more: http://www.irishcentral.com/story/sport/sports-central/boston-celtics-in-istanbul-with-very-different-team-for-the-2012-13-nba-season-172873081.html#ixzz28WiPhyR9

    If the Boston Celtics were anything in the 2011-12 NBA Season, they were a weary boxer. This boxer was entering the season hoping, rather than expecting, to compete for a title. However, he had to overcome both his own limitations and the ever improving opponents who stood in his way.
    81Early on the boxer’s legs quivered. He stumbled through the early rounds of his first fight, a fight that tested his attrition and technique over the ability to land knockout blows. A lockout prior to the fight was supposed to have helped the boxer. He was more experienced and had less to find out about himself. Yet, that didn’t prove true initially. If anything, the lockout looked set to hurt the older boxer. Instead of facing 10 tough rounds, he was instead facing nine rounds that were twice as taxing.
    The boxer didn’t panic though. He knew he was only struggling because of an early shot to his right arm. The boxer had historically relied on his right hook, a punch that was so good it was nicknamed ‘The Truth’ by an opponent in a bout 10 years previous. That right hook was shelved early on as the arm was too limp to be fully effective.
    After holding his opponent to a 5-9 gap however, ‘The Truth’ finally made his presence felt. ‘The Truth’ carried the boxer to a 15-12 lead by the next interval, before eventually winning out 39-27 after nine excruciating rounds.
    The boxer was beaten and bruised, but not defeated. He carried all the bruises and cuts of his previous fight into the next stage of his supposed swan-song. After sweeping by an inferior opponent, the weary boxer outlasted a tough matchup in a fight that went the full seven rounds. That left him one fight away from contending for the title, but that fight was against the oddsmakers’ favourites. That fight was the one that was one step too far.
    In that fight, the Boston Celtics eventually were forced to surrender to the might of the Miami Heat and Lebron James.
    It was supposed to be a fairytale ending for the Celtics in their final season with the big-three, but James eventually dismantled their hopes in the Eastern Conference finals. James then stole the Celtics’ fairytale ending by winning the ring that they felt was meant for them.
    All was lost. It was time for the franchise to dive into full-on rebuild mode and start from scratch. Kevin Garnett will retire, Ray Allen will leave and Paul Pierce could be traded. The team was going to be about Rajon Rondo and whatever they could get in the NBA draft with their two first round picks. It was a dark time for the basketball fans of Boston.
    But then, the purveyor of light in Boston for so many years shone once again.
    Celtics head coach Doc Rivers didn’t buy the hype. He didn’t care for age, Rivers only cared about building his team to beat the NBA’s best…now, not later. Rivers entered the off-season with all the optimism of one of the coaches of one of the most famous franchises in sports should do. First he spoke about bringing back the big three, then he set about doing it.
    Rivers and general manager Danny Ainge re-signed Kevin Garnett once he decided not to retire. Garnett was surprisingly given a three year deal with hefty compensation, but that may just reflect how ageless his career has been in recent times. Garnett was joined by another veteran NBA champion, as Jason Terry was signed from the Dallas Mavericks.
    Terry’s signing was melancholic for some, as many read it as a sign that Ray Allen would not return. Doc Rivers was attempting to bring back Allen despite signing Terry, but just as the Celtics’ optimism was about to multiple, Lebron James’ Miami Heat swept in to steal the limelight once again. Allen joined the Heat over the Celtics, despite the Celtics offering him more money.
    Allen had issues with Rajon Rondo, but blatantly saw the Heat as a more favourable championship contender. Even though he never said a word about it, the decision to leave was damnation enough to demoralize a fanbase and franchise.
    Once again Rivers wasn’t ready to give in.
    Allen’s loss may have proved to be a blessing in disguise as the Celtics replaced him with Courtney Lee. A much younger, more athletic perimeter player who arrived from the Houston Rockets in free agency. The combination of Lee, Terry, Rajon Rondo and Avery Bradley offers the Celtics a huge amount of flexibility that wasn’t present last season. Bradley must return from a shoulder injury, but with he, Rondo and Terry all capable of playing point guard, with various skill-sets, the Celtics can ask more questions of defenses. While Lee, Rondo and Bradley are all outstanding defensive players who will improve the team’s buffer on the edges.
    The Celtics problems weren’t going to be solved by simply replacing Ray Allen though.
    Garnett may have been re-signed, but the power forward come center needed better help in the backcourt. Impressive starter Brandon Bass was re-signed as a free agent, while Chris Wilcox returns from a heart condition that caused him to miss much of last season. The two first round picks that were previously thought of as potential cornerstones were turned into Jared Sullinger and Fab Melo, a center-power forward combination with differing skill-sets. Throw in veterans Jason Collins and Darko Milicic to make the Celtics vastly improved in the paint this year.
    The bigs that the Celtics signed will be important, but the true gamechanged could prove to be Jeff Green. Green was re-signed in the off-season after missing all of last season with a heart condition. Green was the primary piece that the Celtics received from the Oklahoma City Thunder for Kendrick Perkins two seasons ago. If fully healthy, Green will give the Celtics a very athletic small forward to spell Paul Pierce.
    Pierce looked tired towards the end of last season, even before his knee injury, after carrying the roster through the regular season. Green’s ability to match up to the faster perimeter players in the league today will afford the Celtics the opportunity to better manage Pierce’s valuable minutes. The Celtics have relied on Pierce for a long time, but this year the roster is set up to alleviate the pressure on him.
    Rajon Rondo’s continued ascension as a superstar, Jason Terry’s scoring ability, as well as Courtney Lee, Avery Bradley and Jeff Green’s defensive versatility will allow Pierce to take a back-seat in certain aspects of the game. Pierce has spent vast junctures of his career carrying the franchise, but now it is time for the franchise to carry him. That can only be beneficial for Doc Rivers’ side on the whole.
    The Celtics entered last season in a swan-song year as the form of a weary boxer. Their off-season moves this year have removed any notion of a swan-song while nobody is weary as the team enters training camp in Istanbul this week.
    It is yet to be determined if the Boston Celtics of this season will be better than last, but one thing is for sure.
    This is going to be a very different season compared to last year’s.
    Read more:
  • Turkey’s EU minister invites Christofias to football game

    Turkey’s EU minister invites Christofias to football game

    Turkish EU Minister Egemen Bağış has invited Greek Cypriot President Demetris Christofias to a football game in Istanbul with a message he posted on his personal Twitter account today.

    n 29192 4“[President Christofias] was looking for a reason to come to Istanbul. He should come with [Turkish Cypriot President Derviş] Eroğlu for Fenerbahçe’s match with Limassol,” Bağış tweeted today, inviting Christofias to the Europa League encounter between Fenerbahçe and Greek Cypriot AEL Limassol in Istanbul on Nov. 8. Bağış added that he would buy a round of coffee for the two leaders after the game ends.

    Bağış also said Greek Cypriots should seek help from Turkish Cyprus if they were not sure whether they could ensure the safety of the players of Fenerbahçe for the two teams’ other Europa League clash, an Oct. 25 tilt that will be played in Greek Cyprus.

    “Greek Cypriots have a poor record in protecting Turkish teams. They should seek help from Turkish Rep. of Northern Cyprus 4 Fenerbahce game,” Bağış tweeted.

    September/02/2012

    via TURKEY – Turkey’s EU minister invites Christofias to football game.

  • The Not-So-Beautiful Game

    The Not-So-Beautiful Game

    By ANDREW FINKEL

    ISTANBUL — “Welcome to hell!” was how Istanbul fans once greeted foreign soccer teams. But now it’s Turkey’s top team that finds itself in a small hell of its own making. Not only is a recent match-fixing scandal threatening the country’s premier league, but it has also forced the governing Justice and Development (AK) Party into scoring against itself. The party that was elected in 2002 as the new broom to sweep Turkey clean looks like it’s sweeping dirt under the carpet.

    The soccer team Fenerbahce’s chairman, Aziz YildirimAziz Uzun/Anatolian Agency, via European Pressphoto AgencyThe soccer team Fenerbahce’s chairman, Aziz Yildirim
    The soccer team Fenerbahce’s chairman, Aziz YildirimAziz Uzun/Anatolian Agency, via European Pressphoto AgencyThe soccer team Fenerbahce’s chairman, Aziz Yildirim

    The trouble began in May after the final whistle in the final game last season, when the Istanbul club Fenerbahce snatched the Turkish league championship. The club it so narrowly beat to first place, Trabzon, accused it of match fixing. Prosecutors uncovered evidence said to implicate Fenerbahce’s chairman, Aziz Yildirim, an influential defense contractor who helped bankroll the team’s way to the top of the league. But the accusations didn’t stop there, and there are now scores of people being charged, including players from other teams and officials from the Turkish Football Federation.

    This sits badly with Turkey’s die-hard soccer supporters, thousands of whom have taken to the streets supporting Fenerbahce “right or wrong.” The scandal is also a problem for the AK Party. Just as last soccer season was ending, it enacted tough new laws to tackle corruption in sports, apparently not imagining that the really popular big four soccer clubs might be affected. But with Yildirim in pretrial detention and facing a 12-year prison sentence, suddenly the whole league was in disarray. Fenerbahce is also Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s favorite club.

    Parliament has shown real mettle in supporting the prosecution of Turkey’s old establishment on charges of fomenting coups and in ignoring saber-rattling from the military. But it buckled under pressure from the football lobby. Earlier this month, it passed a bill slashing sentences for crimes like match-fixing to three years. But this was too much for the Turkish president, Abdullah Gul, Erdogan’s old political comrade. Encouraged by some senior AK Party members of Parliament who thought the new legislation was too blatantly motivated by the desire to save the necks of the powerful few, he refused to sign it into law.

    While recovering from major surgery, Erdogan took the time to insist that Parliament override the veto. Clearly he thought it wasn’t worth the political price to have his party jeered at, match after match, by irate fans. Though many AK Party MPs stayed away on principle, the measure received rare support from the opposition: if they showed clemency to soccer’s inner circle, perhaps the establishment old guard standing trial (including some opposition MPs) might receive some, too. Yildirim can comfort himself that he now faces a much reduced sentence and also that his team, despite the upheavals, is having a good season.

    Less pleased is the religiously conservative press, for which taming the military and the former pro-secular elite is the highest priority. A columnist in Zaman newspaper, Huseyin Gulerce, saw in Parliament’s turnabout a sign that the AK Party is taking the wrong fork in the road to democratization.

    The AK Party came to office out of nowhere in 2002, at a time when the Turkish public longed for an end to corruption — and Turkish soccer was on a roll. (The national team had just come third in the World Cup.) Turkey didn’t even qualify for 2010 World Cup or Euro 2012, and the AK Party is proving itself no less opportunistic than the parties it replaced.

    Andrew Finkel has been a foreign correspondent in Istanbul for over 20 years, as well as a columnist for Turkish-language newspapers. His latest book, “Turkey: What Everyone Needs to Know,” will be published next year.

    via The Not-So-Beautiful Game – NYTimes.com.

  • Turkey at crossroads

    Turkey at crossroads

    By Andy Brassell

    Sunday May 22, 2011 saw another gripping climax to the Turkish Super Lig season, with Fenerbahce winning 4-3 at Sivasspor to seal the title at the expense of Trabzonspor on the final day. For Fener, it was closure after the trauma of 12 months before, when fans celebrated the title on the Sukru Saracoglu pitch – only to find out that the tannoy announcement that rivals Bursaspor had faltered against Besiktas was wrong, and that Bursa were champions. Furious home fans began to tear out seats and start fires in the stands.

    Fenerbahce president Aziz Yildirim is under investigation

    If recent nail-biters have augmented the burgeoning reputation of domestic football in this most passionate of football nations, events in the last week threaten to decimate it at a stroke. A series of police raids last Sunday (July 3) saw some of the most influential clubs and figureheads of the Turkish game implicated in an investigation into match-fixing, with details emerging that authorities were looking into at least 20 matches from the 2010-11 season.

    Less than a week later in excess of 60 people have been arrested, but the most important detention remains that of Fenerbahce president Aziz Yildirim, with two of the key matches under scrutiny being Fener’s games against Eskisehirspor in April, and the last day title-clincher against Sivasspor. Sivas’ president Mecnun Odyakmaz, Eskisehirspor sporting director Umit Karan and Eskisehir coach Bulent Uygun are also among the arrests.

    Yildirim is currently on conditional release for treatment having been taken ill in custody, but public sympathy in Turkey is in short supply for a strongly divisive figure with an explosive temperament. “He always behaves very aggressively to journalists, cameramen and others,” says Istanbul-based journalist Yakir Mizrahi. “He is an idol to his own flock – he invested a lot of money to renovate the stadium, and (provide) new training facilities over the last 13 years, and Fenerbahce fans love him, because of his role in making a globally-known club,” says Mizrahi – but there is considerable schadenfreude for a man considered brash and unpleasant in many quarters.

    The immediate implications for the accused are serious. Some of the charges include “forming, directing and being a member of an armed criminal organisation,” and a statement released by Istanbul police on Wednesday said that eight unlicensed firearms had been seized during the raids. Turkey’s president Abdullah Gul and prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan (a former semi-pro player himself and a Fener supporter) have been careful to remain neutral while the investigation continues, but the feeling is that the arrests are the latest move in a long-awaited initiative to clean up the game, after laws to combat football-related violence were passed in April, which included severe penalties for match-fixing.

    The Turkish Football Federation’s (TFF) Professional Football Discipline Board (PFDK) banned 11 former players and coaches for life at the beginning of June after concluding a probe into match-fixing and illegal betting in matches between 2008 and 2010. Indeed, 23 more were punished, including former Galatasaray and Fener defender Fatih Akyel, who was banned for three years for his role in fixing a league game in 2008. After years in which authorities were powerless to act, former sports minister Mehmet Ali Sahin told the newspaper Hurriyet this week, the law finally has the teeth to change things.

    The consequences of a guilty verdict would be crushing for Yildirim and Fener. The TFF would strip the club of its title – its 18th, which put it one ahead of bitter rivals Galatasaray – and relegation would almost certainly follow, in a mirror of the punishments dished out to Juventus post-Calciopoli. Fener would incur an immediate loss in excess of £30 million – £10.8 million from TV rights, £8 million in bonuses and £5.7 million in prize money – losing around £10 million more that would come with Champions League qualification. The player exodus that would follow relegation would be an administrative as well as a financial necessity; league rules limit second-tier teams to three foreign players in their squad, and Fener currently have ten.

    Yet even if only Fener were punished, the shockwaves would be felt all over the country. “Other Super Lig clubs would automatically be affected economically,” says Mizrahi. “US$321 million is paid annually by the broadcaster to the clubs which is a record for Turkey, but a new bid can happen if Fenerbahce is relegated, so other clubs’ income may decrease.”

    He also believes Fener’s exclusion from the Champions League would set back Turkey’s progress in Europe. “In my opinion, (runners-up) Trabzonspor’s squad is not adequate for the Champions League,” he said. ”And points which the teams gather from the Champions League are very important for Turkish football’s future.”

    Pressure to act quickly is considerable. The Super Lig restarts on August 7, but the Super Cup showpiece between Fener and cup winners Besiktas is scheduled for July 31. Before both those dates, on July 15 (next Friday), UEFA requires confirmation from the TFF of the Turkish clubs that will be involved in the Champions League. “It might take a very long time for the (criminal) investigation to conclude. Therefore we have to act upon the evidence at hand,” TFF chairman Mehmet Ali Aydinlar told NTV this week.

    GettyImages Michel Platini and Fener vice-president Murat Ozaydinli speak in 2009

    Yet in its eagerness for justice, the TFF could be all set to repeat the horrible botch that the Portuguese authorities made of the Apito Final process. They too acted before the legal process was concluded, and Portugal’s Central Administrative Court ruled in May that the six-point deduction from Porto in 2008 (which initially prompted UEFA to throw the club out of the 2008-09 Champions League in June 2008, before the decision was repealed twelve days later) was unfounded. Both Porto and neighbours Boavista (also punished in the same probe) are set to pursue the authorities for hefty damages.

    Turkish football’s aim to bring an end to years of unfettered, opaque financial dealings is laudable, and could be the next step on its route to becoming a world-renowned championship. Whether the authorities can hold fire long enough to make sure they are thorough remains to be seen. If the TFF reacts with haste, it may well have to repent at leisure.

    ESPN

    Türkçe : https://www.turkishnews.com/tr/content/tag/fenerbahce/