Besiktas have been officially disqualified from the Turkish Cup and banned from next season’s tournament for not showing up to match.
Turkey’s Professional Football Discipline Board (PFDK) awarded Fenerbahçe a 3-0 win over Besiktas by way of forfeit on Saturday after the Black Eagles refused to take to the field and boycotted the replay of the match on May 3.
As part of the ruling, Besiktas has also been banned from next season’s competition and has to pay back the 4 million Turkish Lira they won in prize money from the Turkish Cup this year.
The match, a Turkish Cup semi-final second leg at Fenerbahçe’s home turf on April 19, was abandoned in the 57th minute after Besiktas coach Senol Günes was hit by an object thrown by Fenerbahce fans.
The Turkish Football Federation (TFF) last week ordered the match to resume on Thursday “from the time it stopped,” behind closed doors with the scores level.
The rivals were tied at 0-0 before the match was abandoned, 2-2 on aggregate.
But Besiktas maintained they should have been awarded an automatic victory, blaming Fenerbahçe for the violence and saying their team would not turn up to the replay. The club’s supporters also defended the boycott and said the TFF’s ruling was too lenient towards Fenerbahçe.
Besiktas said it was convinced the decision was the “most dignified,” adding that the club wanted to ensure its supporters’ voice was heard.
The TFF said in a statement that it had examined the appeal by Besiktas and voted to reject the request.
After the eventful derby, the PFDK ruled Fenerbahçe must pay a fine of 1 million Turkish lira and play three home matches behind closed doors due to its fans’ behaviour during the game.
Besiktas supporters, many of whom are famously anti-establishment, claim an official bias exists against their side although the authorities reject this claim.
