Ali Koch: Knife to Bone

Fenerbahçe club president Ali Koç expressed his team’s economic difficulties and used the phrase “knife stuck in bone”.

Fenerbahce and President of the Union of Clubs Ali Koch performed at the shooting in Riva. Koch said: “We are in big financial trouble. The blade went into the bone.” said.

The 2023–24 matches were drawn in the Rendyol Superliga.

TFF President Mehmet Büyükksi, TFF board members, club presidents, club representatives and technical staff took part in the shooting held at the Riva Hassan Doğan National Teams Camp and Training Complex.

On the night of Ceren Gündoğdu’s performance, comedian Tahsin Hasoglu also entertained the guests with his jokes.

The first half of the league will be played for 18 weeks

The season in the Superleague will begin with matches to be held on August 11-12-13-14. The first half of the league will end with the matches of the 18th week on December 23-24-25. The second half, which will begin with the 19th week of fights on January 5-6-7-8, will end on May 19, 2024.

Due to the tight schedule of matches, the matches of the 17th and 22nd weeks will be played on weekdays. In addition, due to the local elections that will take place on March 31, 2024, the teams will face each other on April 2-3-4 in the 31st week. The 4 teams finishing the season in 17th, 18th, 19th and 20th places will be relegated.

Mehmet Buyukksi: “Our league is among the ten most valuable leagues in the world”

TFF President Mehmet Büyükksi, who began his speech by emphasizing that Trendyol is the new title sponsor of Super League and 1st League, said they have made the biggest sponsorship deal after England and Spain.

Noting that last season’s title run had added value to the league’s brand, Büyükeksi continued as follows:

“I believe next year the competition will be at a higher level with our new title sponsor. There is a subject that I always insist on in order to add value to the brand of Turkish football. The increase we are aiming for is very important. But we must also highlight the beautiful and spectacular moments of football. We want to add value to the Turkish football brand, address structural issues and contribute to the development of our teams.”

Adding that they want to reorganize the match system next year, Mehmet Buyukeksi said: “Our league is in the top 10 most valuable leagues in the world. Some of our matches are broadcast in over 100 countries around the world. We agreed with a company that reorganized the UEFA Champions League, German and Belgian leagues. In the coming period, we want to restore the structure of matches in the Super League, 1st League, 2nd League and 3rd League. We also want to recreate the corporate identity of the Superleague. We want to increase club revenue through new sponsorship models.” used phrases.

Emphasizing that the federation, teams and fans want to write a story befitting the 100th anniversary of the Republic, Büyüksi concluded his words as follows:

“As TFF, we want to restore confidence in Turkish football through a transparent, equitable, fair and impartial administration. On August 11, Trendyol Super League will say hello to its 66th season. With the reunion of FC Gaziantep and Atakash Hatayspor we will have a season with 20 teams. In the new season, I hope there will be matches where friendship is at the forefront, there are no injuries, and the viewing pleasure is high.”

Ali Koch: “Knife to the bone”

Speaking at the evening, President of the Club Union Foundation Ali Koç said that he had not participated in a match in the 5 years he was president and that this was the first time he had taken part in such an evening.

Expressing that the period when there were no matches was a stress-free period for presidents and managers, but fans were looking forward to the matches, Koç congratulated TFF President Mehmet Büyükksi on signing a sponsorship deal with Trendyol.

Emphasizing that there are many problems in football and the problems are growing every day, Ali Koç said: “There are financial problems that we all know about. There must be a fair competitive environment that many stakeholders cannot articulate. We are in great financial difficulty. Neither the clubs nor the federation are able to get out of this financial situation. The blade went into the bone.” used phrases.

Noting that there are negative phenomena that are beyond the control of the clubs, the president of the Union of Clubs, Ali Koch, continued the following:

“Even though we try to take precautions against negativity, our backs are bent financially. The exchange rate concerns all of us. 80 percent of our income is in Turkish Lira, 75 percent of our expenses are in foreign currency. In 2016, we held a publishing tender for $500 million. Today, that figure has dropped to $100 million. If we subtract the share of the federation, then the share of clubs will be about 87-88 million dollars. A $500 million tender was held, but $500 million was never paid. Nonsensical discounts accepted. I got angry at the TV presenter, then I saw that he was rightly defending his interests. The main problem is in TFF. The biggest blow to this revenue item came in the period from 2018 to 2021. Broadcasting revenues fell 80 percent in 5 years. In my opinion, the tender was not prepared due to the irresponsible behavior of the previous federation.”

“We are trying to navigate the ship in this environment”

After saying that the increase in the tax rate from 15 to 40 percent increased the burden on clubs, Ali Koch concluded his words as follows:

“With the approval of our president, there was a perfectly functioning containment system. But whatever happened, it stopped for some unknown reason. After that, Mehmet Büyükksi became president and this system came into force again, I congratulate you and thank you for this. You see us as dissolute, incompetent and even incomprehensible people, but all these things are out of our control. In this environment, we are trying to control the ship. We are talking about fair competition. But in terms of football, we can’t go far. We expect that next season we will be at an equal distance from everyone in referee management, your management and decisions that will be made by the boards.

At the end of his speech, the Ali Koch Club Union Foundation congratulated the National Women’s Volleyball Team, which became the champion of the FIVB Nations League.

Caglayan Cetin: “We stand shoulder to shoulder not only for sponsorship, but also for friendly relations”
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Caglayan Çetin, CEO of Trendyol, which is the title sponsor of Super League and First League, said they are now part of the Turkish football family.

Expressing that the national football team is halfway to participating in the 2024 European Championship, Çetin stated that they believe the national team will take part in the championship.

Congratulating the national women’s volleyball team on their return from the US as FIVB Nations League champions, Caglayan Cetin said:

“We had very emotional moments when we congratulated Akif Chairman and our captain Eda last night. As Trendyol, we are proud to be the main sponsor of the Sultans of the Web. We have joined this family because we believe in our federation’s vision to further enhance the value of the Super League brand and want to contribute to that vision. We stand shoulder to shoulder not only for sponsorship, but also for companionship. This is not only Trendyol’s sponsorship, but also our 300 thousand dealers, 500 manufacturers, 22 thousand couriers and over 30 million customers who are also supporters of all our clubs here. Thanks to our support of the 1st league, in cooperation with the broadcaster, our clubs are raising new stars; Giving our name to the Super League, we hope that we will help our teams to perform faster on the European arena. See you in exciting matches.”