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Servet Yardımcı withdraws from TFF presidential candidacy: Issues scathing statement

Former Samsunspor Club President İsmail Uyanık announced his withdrawal from the Turkish Football Federation (TFF) presidential race. Following Uyanık, Servet Yardımcı also announced that he is withdrawing his candidacy.

İHA

All eyes in Turkish football are on July 18.

One week before the TFF presidential election, two individuals who had previously announced their candidacies have declared their withdrawal.

First, İsmail Uyanık announced he was withdrawing from the race. Following Uyanık, Servet Yardımcı, who was seen as the most serious challenger to the incumbent president Mehmet Büyükekşi, also announced his withdrawal through a statement.

In his statement, Uyanık said, "I am announcing to the Turkish football public my decision not to be a candidate, as I have seen that in this system, let alone winning the elections, it is meaningless to participate in a democratic election, and it is not even possible for the 36 brave signatures currently in our file to reach the required threshold for participation in the election."

The full text of Uyanık's statement is as follows:

"On the path to TFF presidential candidacy, which I set out on with the principle of independent and autonomous football; having observed that Turkish football stakeholders are equally determined to be managed and directed by non-football actors, that it is not possible at this point to separate politics and football even with the contributions of the football family, that a suitable environment has been carefully created for the TFF elections to take place between two focused candidates, and that Turkish football clubs, in this created atmosphere of pressure and fear, are not only failing to escape their helplessness but are clearly complicit in this chaos and football existentialism; I am sharing with the Turkish football public my decision not to be a candidate in the TFF elections, as I have seen that in this system, let alone winning the elections, it is meaningless to participate in a democratic election, and it is not even possible for the 36 brave signatures currently in our file to reach the required threshold for participation in the election, while expressing my gratitude to all football stakeholders who supported me by signing for me and my principles."

SERVET YARDIMCI ALSO WITHDRAWS FROM CANDIDACY

Servet Yardımcı, who withdrew from the TFF presidential race, announced his decision through a post on his personal X account.

Yardımcı included the following statements in his announcement:

"Dear football public,

Following the TFF's decision to hold an extraordinary election on July 18, 2024, I decided to run for the presidency in order to mobilize the knowledge and experience I have gained in Turkish football and UEFA management to establish a clean, transparent, and institutional structure in our football.

During my tenure at UEFA, which has lasted for over seven years; I played a critical role in bringing the 2019 Super Cup final, the 2023 Champions League final to crown the 100th anniversary of our Republic and the TFF, the 2026 UEFA Europa League final, and the 2027 UEFA Conference League final to our country, in hosting countless meetings and events in Turkey, in winning the bid for the Euro 2032 European Football Championship, which we will co-host with Italy, and in obtaining permits for our clubs to participate in European cups, as well as in hundreds of issues and cases.

Even though my greatest goal and dream was to bring the accumulation I gained in Turkish football and UEFA to our country and to ensure that Turkish Football achieves the brand value it deserves; I was subjected to a dirty operation full of slanders that are completely contrary to the character and upbringing I possess, and that will never align with my actions and experience.

Following my announcement of candidacy for the TFF presidency, the conspiracy initiated by the well-known dirty structure to ensure the continuation of the current system is targeting my person, my family, my honor, my dignity, and my reputation in a way that will never align with the past and morality of the Yardımcı family from Rize and the people who set out on this path with me.

My family upbringing, my decency, and the way I was raised would never allow me to stand against such a dirty order, nor would they allow the people who believe in me and set out on this path with me to face conspiracies.

Facing such an operation to ensure the continuation of a football structure that is demanded to be changed by every segment of Turkey is a major problem for our entire football family.

Although we still have the sufficient number of signatures and support to win the election, I respectfully submit to our great nation that I am withdrawing from my TFF presidential candidacy and from my duties as a UEFA Executive Committee Member and Chairman of the UEFA European National Associations Committee, which I have held for seven years.

I would like to thank everyone who has trusted, supported, and stood by me until today, and I ask everyone, especially our club presidents, to grant me their blessings.

Sincerely.

Servet Yardımcı"