Former Fener star says UEFA, TFF embroiled in secret talks

ISTANBUL

Pundit Rıdvan Dilmen, a former player and a coach of Fenerbahçe, claimed that the former Turkish Football Federation chairman Mehmet Ali Aydınlar had secret talks with the UEFA. Dilmen said Aydınlar negotiated with the European football’s governing body on a possible ban on Fenerbahçe regarding the match-fixing case.

Prominent TV pundit Rıdvan Dilmen claimed the former Turkish Football Federation (TFF) chairman had secret talks with UEFA and the Fenerbahçe coach regarding the club’s possible match-fixing ban, raising the tension before the first hearing set for tomorrow.

Dilmen announced that former TFF chairman Mehmet Ali Aydınlar called him last month and said Fenerbahçe will be eligible for European competitions next season.

“Aydınlar called me and said he talked with [European football’s governing body] UEFA and Fenerbahçe had its punishment so it would be cleared to play in Europe next year,” Dilmen said in his show “%100 Futbol” on NTV Spor television channel. “However, the club would have to be punished with a points deduction in domestic competitions if found guilty in the match-fixing case.”

Dilmen, a former playing legend and coach of Fenerbahçe, said “he was not the one to be told about this,” and called on current Fenerbahçe coach Aykut Kocamanto to join the conversation.

The TFF barred Fenerbahçe in August 2011 from competing in the Champions League, after the club was in the center of a match-fixing investigation.

The club has four officials, including chairman Aziz Yıldırım, detained pending trial, but the club took the case to Court of Arbitration in Sport (CAS) seeking compensation of 45 million euros, claiming that the TFF breached the presumption of innocence principle.

According to Dilmen, Aydınlar said the ban meant Fenerbahçe would be cleared to play in European competitions, unlike other Turkish sides Beşiktaş and Trabzonspor, who continued to play in European cups while also being allegedly involved in the match-fixing case.

Dilmen added that Aydınlar also said “both he and UEFA would deny it if the talks were made public.”