‘Sexist’ Trabzonspor chairman suspended for ‘full-term pregnancy’ after hostage scandal

ISTANBUL

Trabzonspor club chairman İbrahim Hacıosmanoğlu. DHA Photo

Turkish football’s top disciplinary panel has handed out heavy suspensions and fines to Trabzonspor executives, while also sending a veiled message to club chairman İbrahim Hacıosmanoğlu, who has been under fire for his sexist remarks.

The Turkish Football Federation’s (TFF) Professional Football Disciplinary Committee (PFDK) announced late Nov. 3 that Hacısomanoğlu has been suspended for 40 weeks – the full term for a woman’s pregnancy – and fined him 150,000 Turkish Liras.  

Although Hacıosmanoğlu and other club executives were ostensibly suspended for illegally detaining referee Çağatay Şahan and his assistants following a league match at home to Gaziantepspor on Oct. 28, the term for the suspension was an open reference to the chairman’s sexist remarks. 

“If we’re going to die, we’ll die like men; we won’t live like women. No one has the power to make us live like women,” Hacıosmanoğlu said after the incident, drawing major public ire. 

He later apologized for the remarks, saying he did want to offend women and that, uniquely, “my mother is a woman.”  

Trabzonspor’s officials took the match officials hostage due to what the club considered an “erroneous decision” during a 2-2 draw against Antep, only to release them after a late-night appeal from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. 

The PFDK suspended and fined a total of nine Trabzonspor executives for their roles in the incident. The total suspension handed down was nine years and 26 days, along with a total fine of 2 million liras.

The PFDK also handed a suspension of 1.5 years to İbrahim Usta, a former Trabzonspor executive who currently holds the position of deputy chair at the TFF.

Trabzonspor will also be forced to play two home matches behind closed doors.