UEFA bans Galatasaray for one year

ISTANBUL

REUTERS photo

The top football authority in Europe, UEFA, has banned Turkey’s Galatasaray from continental cups for one year after the Istanbul side failed to fulfill the financial fair play requirements. 

The ban will be valid from the first year that Galatasaray, now 16 points behind leader Fenerbahçe in the Spor Toto Super League, gains the right to join a European cup. 

However, the ban will be lifted if the club fails to qualify for two consecutive years. 

Galatasaray Chairman Dursun Özbek, board members Fatih İşbecer and Ural Aküzüm and lawyer Jean Luis Dupont presented the club’s plans to improve its financial structure to UEFA last week. 

Meanwhile, the reigning Turkish champions appointed their youth coach to manage the first team after Mustafa Denizli quit on March 1, three months after taking the job, the club said. 

Galatasaray said in a statement that Orhan Atik, their U-21 coach, would manage the side until the end of the season. 

Denizli had taken over in November 2015 after former coach Hamza Hamzaoğlu left after less than a year at the helm. 

The Istanbul Lions have struggled this season, standing fifth in the domestic league. They were knocked out of the Europa League last week.