Turkey’s Trabzonspor get six match fan-ban over pitch invasion

Turkish club Trabzonspor have been ordered to play six home matches behind closed doors after violent scenes marred a league game with rivals Fenerbahce last month, the country’s football federation (TFF) said Wednesday.

Two Fenerbahce players, Dutch defender Jayden Oosterwolde and goalkeeper Irfan Can Egribayat, were also fined and handed one-match bans by the TFF’s discipinary board.

Oosterwolde was punished for kicking a Trabzonspor fan who had run onto the pitch with his face covered.

A group of Trabzonspor fans invaded the pitch after the final whistle of the 3-2 home defeat on March 17.

The attacks took place as the Fenerbahce players and coaching staff celebrated their victory, goalkeeper Dominik Livakovic being punched in the face.

The Black Sea team must also pay two fines totalling 3.1 million Turkish lira ($97,000).

Nigerian international Bright Osayi-Samuel escaped punishment after punching a fan on the pitch.

His actions “did not meet the threshold for a violation of disciplinary rules,” the board said.

FIFA boss Gianni Infantino called the scenes “totally unacceptable”.

It is not the first time violence has affected the Turkish Super Lig this season.

The championship was suspended for a week in December after a referee was attacked during a match between Ankaragucu and Rizespor.

Ankaragucu president Faruk Koca, alongside other men, attacked referee Halil Umut Meler on the pitch after the match, injuring the official.

A number of Fenerbahce trips to Trabzon in recent times have also been marred by violence.

A 2016 game against Trabzonspor was abandoned in the closing minutes after an assistant referee was attacked by a home supporter.

The year before that the Fenerbahce team bus came under attack from a gunman en route to the airport on the way back from the neighbouring Black Sea city of Rize, leaving the driver seriously injured.

In 2014 a match between Trabzonspor and Fenerbahce was called off at half-time after the Istanbul club’s players were pelted with objects thrown onto the pitch by home fans.

Trabzonspor, who won the Turkish title two years ago, also found themselves in the spotlight in 2015 when the club president locked the referee and his assistants inside the stadium overnight in protest at the decision not to award his team a penalty.

They were eventually released in the early hours of the following morning after a phone call from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.