Ertuğrul Doğan: We do not believe this is the value of Turkish football

The Clubs Association Foundation met today at a hotel in Beşiktaş. Following the meeting, Clubs Association Foundation President Ertuğrul Doğan made statements to the press. Starting his remarks by stating that the harsh criticisms directed at the A National Football Team were not fair, Ertuğrul Doğan said, "There is a World Cup we qualified for after years, and a national team that has been promoted to League A. It is everyone's wish to achieve much better results than what we all had in our hearts and minds. I do not believe anyone wanted that more than the friends who were there.

However, they could not have wanted it more than them. Everything in the minds of our federation president, our coach Montella, and the players is primarily their own careers. It is impossible for anyone to have any desire other than to be successful there. It was a World Cup that would have been a great source of pride for everyone. I am as sure as I am of my own name that everyone's intentions were good. I stand here; do these friends of ours have shortcomings and mistakes? They certainly might.

Just like all of us, they might have them too. Our coach might have them, the management might have them, but everyone's intention is good. Everyone was there for Turkey. They were there so that Turkey would be successful. It didn't happen. Previously, in these groups, Germany could not advance in the last two World Cups, Spain could not, France could not, Italy could not, England could not. These things happen. I wish it hadn't happened to us, but it is everyone's most natural right to criticize those young friends of mine just because it happened to us. Everyone involved in football must be open to criticism; this includes me, my board members, the football federation, our players, and the head coach.

The insults, profanity, and threats made against these friends do not suit us. Let me state that clearly. As the Turkish nation, we do not have such genetics or genes. A Turk has no friend but a Turk. I want to underline these. All of these friends are very valuable children. They may have mistakes, they may have shortcomings, but they are very valuable people. They are sweating for that national jersey. Please approach these friends more carefully. I mean, criticism is okay, everyone has to face it, but profanity, insults, and threats are very wrong things. No matter how it is done, no matter to whom it is done. As the President of the Clubs Association, this is our request from our people. Please show sensitivity towards our players in this regard. Let them criticize, but do not stop loving them," he said.

"It is a very important issue that the amount collected from taxes is used in amateur branches"

Stating that all club presidents attended the Clubs Association meeting, Ertuğrul Doğan said, "There are 5-6 topics. Our first topic; it started 7 years ago with the support of our President. The issue of using the amount collected from taxes, especially in amateur branches, had become a very important issue. Especially all of our big clubs benefit from this seriously; Trabzonspor is included in this.

Infrastructure, academies, and amateur branches were growing rapidly with the revenue items coming from here and achieving many successes. Recently, the date the first communiqué was published was 01.01.2026, this 100% rate was reduced to 75%. This was a serious loss of income for the clubs, but as of July 1st, this rate is being reduced to 50%. Therefore, it will create a very serious problem for teams that attach importance to amateur branches, especially the big clubs.

In the coming days, we will form a delegation among ourselves with our Minister of Finance, and we will go as a delegation and demand that this be corrected. Because all the money coming from here already has specific expenditure items and is allocated to amateur branches and academies under the control of the ministry. Therefore, our clubs need this. The current revenue items are clear. We will request an appointment from our minister for next week or the week after regarding this matter and we will have a request," he said.

"As of now, no one is satisfied with the foreign player rule"

Stating that they will also hold a meeting with the federation regarding the 10+4 foreign player rule announced by the Turkish Football Federation, Ertuğrul Doğan said, "Our clubs have sensitivities regarding the foreign player rule. As of now, no one is satisfied with the foreign player rule.

Our team will work on this in our own message group. We will take the opinions of the clubs. There is a decision made by our football federation. We respect this decision, but nothing is unchangeable. I mean, maybe it was appropriate under the conditions of that time, but now there are justified demands coming from our clubs. There are also justified reasons. We will share all of these with our federation and ask for their help in this regard. We had previously written to our federation for 12+5, but a rule like last year's rule could also be applied. We need to talk about this with the federation.

I mean, our intention is for both the federation and the clubs to meet at a common point. Because we have a lot of players on hand, sending these players is a serious problem, a serious cost. Due to the foreign player limit, we are turning to young players, as Trabzonspor Club, we are ready for this, but our other clubs may not be ready. We have no objection to this either. Therefore, when you go for young players, good players, you start to encounter very serious budgets. Our clubs have a right in this regard as well. Therefore, they need to meet on a common ground, but there is dissatisfaction among all clubs regarding this general situation. We will visit the federation by forming a committee within ourselves and we will talk about what we can do about this," he said.

"We do not think that this is the value of Turkish football"

Emphasizing that there has been a serious decline in broadcasting revenues in recent years and that this situation negatively affects the clubs economically, Ertuğrul Doğan said, "The 500 million Dollar broadcasting revenue in 2017 is now at a figure around 185 million Dollars. There is a serious decline. The Clubs Association and all the clubs present here do not think that this is the value of Turkish football, and we do not believe it. This is the common decision and common thought of the clubs; we will insist on the broadcasting revenue reaching the 500 million Dollar level and we will be persistent on this issue. Broadcasting revenues are clear, other revenues are clear, sponsorship revenues are clear, the clubs have no strength left to endure.

Especially the Anatolian clubs are experiencing very serious difficulties. We are facing a constantly declining income distribution. We are facing increasing taxes. Everyone's intention is good, everyone wants to be useful to the country, everyone wants to be useful to their city, but working under these conditions and achieving these is almost impossible. On one hand, there will be tax increases, on the other hand, the amounts received regarding infrastructure will be lowered, and broadcasting revenues are falling. Of course, don't those who manage the clubs have mistakes?

We certainly have mistakes too. I mean, we are not saying that we do everything right and this part is wrong. But we think that these issues should be re-evaluated on common grounds. There is a union decision taken from within regarding this issue. There will be a broadcasting tender at the end of next year. As we said, it was the 2017-2018 season, the period when Göksel President was the President of the Clubs Association, there was a 500 million Dollar broadcasting tender. If all clubs act together, if there is no discrimination, we will try to bring this valuation back to Turkish football by talking about the same things all together. We will not agree to lower figures in any way. The clubs are very clear here. We have to provide these figures. We have to provide this because; it has become unsustainable for clubs, especially in Anatolia. Everyone is experiencing very serious difficulties, everyone is a victim, and no one has any strength left to endure. We will ask for help from the authorities on this matter," he assessed.

"There is general dissatisfaction among the clubs regarding the MHK"

Stating that the clubs are generally dissatisfied with the Central Referee Board (MHK), Ertuğrul Doğan said, "We will meet with our Federation President regarding the Central Referee Board. There is general dissatisfaction among the clubs. Here, too, by forming a working group, their intentions are certainly good, and our presidents' intentions are also quite good. We will form a team among ourselves to see how we can make this work better on common grounds, and we will try to ensure that healthy steps are taken on this issue within the next month by holding these meetings with them," he included.

"We have taken a joint decision to implement chip-ball and goal-line technology"

Stating that the clubs have taken a joint decision regarding applications such as the chip-ball technology used in the 2026 FIFA World Cup and goal-line technology, Doğan continued his words as follows:

"In terms of technology, there is the chip-ball technology applied especially in the last World Cup, and goal-line technology. There was a joint decision of our clubs to implement both of these technologies in Turkey. We, as the Clubs Association, Çağrı Bey and his team had previously held meetings with these companies. We shared the costs related to this with our clubs. Our clubs also want this technology to be used."

News Source: 12punto