Sivasspor issues statement regarding PFDK's forfeit defeat decision

The Professional Football Disciplinary Board (PFDK) announced that Sivasspor has been declared a 3-0 forfeit loser due to fielding Murat Paluli, who was under administrative suspension, in the Ziraat Turkish Cup match against Kocaelispor.

Sivasspor Club issued a statement following the PFDK's decision.

In the statement made by the Red-White club, it was noted that Sivasspor, which played away against TFF 1st League side Kocaelispor in the 2nd week of the Ziraat Turkish Cup Group D and won the match 2-0, was deemed a 3-0 forfeit loser on the grounds that they fielded Murat Paluli, who was referred to the PFDK with a suspension.

The statement included the following remarks:

"Our player Murat Paluli was sent off in the İkas Eyüpspor-Net Global Sivasspor match played on January 31 due to a challenge recorded as a serious foul in the referee's report, and following his expulsion, he was referred to the PFDK with a suspension effective from February 1 by the TFF Legal Consultancy on February 3. While Article 92.1 of the TFF Football Disciplinary Instruction states, 'Footballers and other officials who are expelled from the field of play in official matches or against whom an administrative suspension decision is taken, except for the exceptions specified in paragraphs 4, 5, and 6 of this article, cannot play or take part in any official match until the suspension decision against them is lifted or their penalties are executed,' the aforementioned 6th paragraph covers the provision: 'The penalties of footballers and officials who are punished with a ban of up to four (4) matches due to violations in professional leagues, regional amateur leagues, and cup matches are executed in their own category, taking into account the relevant official match category.'

A suspension serves the purpose of ensuring that the execution of the penalty is not delayed while the disciplinary procedure is ongoing, and it is contrary to law and conscience to claim that Murat Paluli, who was handed a 2-match ban, was suspended in a way that would prevent him from playing in a cup match. Furthermore, the most important issue is that when we entered our 21-man match squad into the system one day before the cup match and at 10:00 AM on the day of the match, there was no warning on the TFF Card and Penalty Status inquiry screen indicating that Murat Paluli was suspended or under a ban. Under normal circumstances, suspended or banned players receive a warning in this system and cannot be added to the list, yet no such warning message was given for our player. It is unthinkable that Net Global Sivasspor, which has been competing in the Super Lig for over 20 years, or any club, would make a mistake in the standard procedure it applies before every match.

Our great community, which is the true and only owner of our Net Global Sivasspor—founded in 1967, a Turkish Cup winner, and a proud representative of our country in European cups—should know that we will continue every kind of legal and judicial struggle to the end. If there is any error by anyone in our club during this process, whether intentional or inadvertent, all necessary penal sanctions will be applied in full."