Ankara: The chairman of Turkish top-flight football club Ankaragucu, Faruk Koca, was arrested on Tuesday for punching a referee in the face at the end of a match, with an official telling police that Koca had threatened to kill him.
The arrest follows an outbreak of violence during Super Lig club Ankaragucu’s home game against Rizespor on Monday night.
Referee Halil Umut Meler, who was also kicked while lying on the pitch, said Koca also threatened him and his colleagues, the official Anadolu news agency reported.
“Faruk Koca punched me under my left eye; I fell to the ground. While I was on the ground, other people kicked me in the face and other parts of my body several times,” he said.
“Koca told my colleagues and me: ‘I will finish you off’. Addressing me, he said: ‘I will kill you’.”
The Turkish court that issued the arrest also detained two other suspects following the incident.
“This incident was caused by bad decisions and provocative behaviour of the referee. My aim was to react verbally to the referee and spit in his face,” Koca told the court, according to Demiroren news agency.
Koca resigned as Ankaragucu president on Tuesday, and the club later said his deputy, Ismail Mert Firat, had been elected to the position by the club’s board.
The Turkish Football Federation (TFF) said it had suspended all leagues following the “shameful” incident in Ankara.
Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc said Koca and two others were formally arrested for “injuring a public official” after prosecutors took their statements.
“The investigation is continuing meticulously,” he said on social media platform X, adding that judicial controls have been imposed on three other suspects.
Koca entered the pitch and hit Meler at the final whistle after Rizespor scored the equaliser in the 97th minute in the 1-1 draw at Eryaman Stadium, footage shows.
The referee was lying in a hospital bed with a swollen face and a neck brace, footage provided by the ministry showed.
“The bleeding in Meler’s left eye has started to decrease” and there will be no permanent damage, said Mehmet Yorubulut, chief physician at Acibadem Hospital.
“The fracture will gradually heal. There is no brain damage,” he said, adding that he would probably be released from hospital on Wednesday.
Koca was twice elected to the Turkish parliament as a member of President Tayyip Erdogan’s AK Party.
After the match, footage showed Ankaragucu fans invading the pitch and Meler was also kicked as he fell. He eventually managed to reach the locker room with the help of police.
The federation said that Ankaragucu, its president, club officials and all those found guilty of attacking the referee will be “punished in the strongest possible terms”.
Gianni Infantino, president of FIFA, football’s world governing body, said the events that followed the match were “totally unacceptable and have no place in our sport or our society”.
“Without referees, there is no football,” he added.
European football’s governing body UEFA also condemned the incident.
“We urge the authorities and disciplinary bodies responsible to take decisive and necessary action against anyone involved in acts of abuse and violence against referees,” UEFA said.
“Such unacceptable and distressing behaviour is detrimental to the efforts of national associations to recruit referees, who are essential to the smooth running of the game.”
Hugh Dallas, head of referee training for the Turkish Super Lig, was at the stadium when the incident happened and called on governments to take action.
“I have never seen a top referee in a major country being attacked in this way,” Dallas told the BBC.
“I think a lot of club presidents, media and others will look at themselves today and realise that when you create this kind of mass hysteria about refereeing, this is the result.
“We need to legislate and punish clubs, players, owners or anyone who behaves in this way, because it definitely cannot continue.”
A FIFA referee since 2017, Meler, 37, took charge of Lazio’s Champions League group game against Celtic on November 28.
Pierluigi Collina, chairman of FIFA’s referees committee, described the footage of the incident as horrific.
“Neither the referee nor the man deserved to go through the experience he had yesterday in Ankara. He was doing his job when he was attacked on the pitch at the end of a match he had just refereed,” Collina said.
“What’s even more horrifying is knowing that there are thousands of referees around the world who are being verbally and physically abused at lower levels of the game, without the media reporting it.”
Referees in Turkey are often criticised by club managers and presidents for their decisions, but they are rarely the target of violent attacks.
Ankaragucu are in 11th place in the standings with 18 points, three places behind Rizespor with 22 points after 15 games. It is not yet known when Süper Lig matches will resume.
