Turkey’s football champs may lose European qualificationJuly 8, 2011 - 11:21 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - The ongoing match-fixing investigation has put Turkey’s national football champions - Fenerbahçe - at risk of losing its title, its European qualification and millions of euros. FC Chairman Aziz Yıldırım was brought to court for questioning, 12 hours after his fellow club members, vice president and board member, were arrested and sent to the Metris Prison in Istanbul pending trial, Hurriyet Daily News reported. The investigation is not limited to Fenerbahçe, since there are a total of 22 club officials, coaches and players arrested as part of the probe, but the team will suffer the largest amount of damage if found guilty. Apart from being stripped of its 18th league title, Fenerbahçe will be relegated to the second-tier football league for the first time in history if the Turkish Football Federation rules that the team manipulated the outcome of some of its games. That would result in the obligatory release of some of its international players. Fenerbahçe would only keep three of its foreign players due to Bank Asya League One regulations. Fenerbahçe’s shares on the Istanbul Stock Exchange have been plummeting since the first day after the detentions started, and the drop will continue if it is relegated. The biggest financial hit would come from the approximately 15 million euros that the team would get from playing in the European Champions League. European football’s governing body, UEFA, will be given a list of European qualified teams from Turkey on July 15, a date that may serve as a deadline for the Turkish federation. Earlier this week, the Istanbul police announced the existence of evidence that 19 games in Turkey’s top two leagues were manipulated last season. Top stories Armenian gymnast, Olympic bronze medalist Artur Davtyan has reached the finals of the World Cup. Gor Manvelyan has denied reports alleging that he has expressed a desire to one day play for the French national team. Roma midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan is not considering FC Spartak Moscow as his next haven, according to fresh reports. 10 Armenian lifters will compete in the 2021 World Championships scheduled to be held from 7 to 17 December in Tashkent. Partner news | Concept to complete Yerevan Cascade discussed at city hall A conceptual proposal to complete the Cascade complex in downtown Yerevan has been presented by Jean-Michel Wilmotte. Pashinyan visits flood-hit region Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on Saturday, June 8 visited the disaster area in the Lori province. €3.5 mln EU grant to support justice reforms in Armenia The European Union has paid €3.5 mln grant to Armenia within a €11mln program on Support to Justice Reforms. Yerevan reacts to Baku’s proposal to see Minsk Group abolition Alen Simonyan has declared that Armenia is taking steps aimed at concluding a peace treaty with Azerbaijan. |