Turkeys bid to host EURO 2016 under fire

Turkey’s bid to host the 2016 European Football Championships, led by the Turkish Football Federation, or TFF, has been criticized over the selection of stadiums and host cities.

While Turkcell Super League club Fenerbahçe slammed the TFF for not including the Şükrü Saraçoğlu Stadium in the bid, a prominent sports writer said not having a host city in the Black Sea region or East Anatolia was a scandal.

“If the organization is given to us, it will be given to central and western Anatolia, not eastern or southeastern. It will be given to the Aegean and Mediterranean, not the Black Sea,” sports writer Mehmet Demirkol wrote in daily Milliyet on Tuesday.

The TFF launched its campaign to bid to host EURO 2016 last week. Nine stadiums in eight cities will host the group matches if Turkey is picked to host Europe's largest football event.

Istanbul’s Atatürk Olympic Stadium, which will be renovated, and Galatasaray’s Türk Telekom Arena, which is expected to open next September, would be used. New stadiums would be built in six cities: Ankara, İzmir, Bursa, Konya, Antalya and Eskişehir. Kayseri’s Kadir Has Stadium would be another venue.

Demirkol wrote the reason not to have the Black Sea city of Trabzon and the southeastern city of Diyarbakır in the host cities list cannot be the lack of infrastructure in these cities. “If we are saying that we cannot prepare these cities for the tournament in six years, why have we bothered to launch a bid?” he asked.

Demirkol said he would not support Turkey’s bid. “If anyone asks me, I will do my best to block Turkey’s way,” he wrote. “Your opponents are not only Italy and France; I am also your opponent.”

Another opponent of the bid is Fenerbahçe.

“It has been a shock to us not to see Fenerbahçe Şükrü Saraçoğlu Stadium, which hosted the 2009 UEFA Cup final in May, among the stadiums chosen to host EURO 2016 games,” the Istanbul club said in a statement posted on its official Web site.

The club accused TFF Secretary General Ahmet Güvener and his deputy Orhan Gobon of “not being objective for Fenerbahçe.”

Fenerbahçe said in its statement that reports suggesting that the Şükrü Saraçoğlu Stadium has a major parking problem were leaked to the media in preparation for the decision.

The club said the selection of the host country will be made in May 2010 and organizers will have six years to prepare the stadiums. “Stadiums that are still only on paper were preferred over Şükrü Saraçoğlu,” said the statement, noting major renovations are planned for Atatürk Olympic Stadium
 

ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News

29.12.2009