Fenerbahce send youth team to Turkish Supercup in protest

Fenerbahce sent their Under-19 team to face Galatasaray in the rescheduled Turkish Supercup on Sunday as a protest against alleged unfair treatment, the club announced.

Turkish press reported the youth team, which boarded a private jet in Istanbul, might walk off the pitch shortly after kick-off on Sunday evening to forfeit the match, in Sanliurfa in the south-east of the country.

Fenerbahce vice-president Erol Bilecik sought to dissuade fans from travelling to the game 

Fenerbahce are chasing their first Turkish title since 2014 and are two points behind champions Galatasaray with seven rounds to go. Fenerbahce claim they are being picked on.

They had asked for the Supercup to be postponed ahead of their Europa League quarter-final against Olympiakos on Thursday. 

The club also demanded that a foreign referee take charge citing unfavourable treatment from Turkish referees.

The Turkish Football Federation, which on Wednesday sentenced two Fenerbahce players to one-match suspensions after violence broke out during a pitch invasion in Trabzon at the end of a league match, rejected both requests. 

Galatasaray plans to field its best team for the match, the proceeds from which are to be donated to the victims of the earthquake of February 6, 2023, which killed more than 53,500 people in Turkey. 

The Supercup was originally scheduled for December 29 in Riyadh but the match was postponed at the last minute after Saudi organisers refused to allow players to wear warm-up shirts bearing the image of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey, to celebrate the centenary of the Turkish Republic, saying political slogans were banned.