Club president storms pitch and takes team off in protest in more chaotic scenes as Turkish match abandoned

A Turkish Super Lig clash was abandoned after the Istanbulspor president called his team off the pitch in protest.

With their match against Trabzonspor locked at 1-1, Istanbulspor were denied a penalty after Florian Loshaj went down under Batista Mendy's challenge.

1

The away side made it 2-1 as they went up the other end and scored through former Southampton striker Paul Onuachu.

Istanbulspor president, Ecmel Faik Sarialioglu, then took the wild step of taking the players off the pitch in the 73rd minute.

Istanbulspor loanee Simon Deli was seen on his knees appearing to plead with Sarialioglu to not take the team off.

A number of Istanbulspor players pleaded against the decision but the match was suspended and then ultimately abandoned.

"It is a sad day for football... We will wait for the football federation's decision from now on," Trabzonspor coach Abdullah Avci said.

Trabzonspor posted on X, formerly known as Twitter: "We would like to thank our fans who did not leave our team alone in Istanbulspor's away game."

Istanbulspor are bottom of the Turkish Super Lig having picked up just eight points in 15 games. They have won just once in their last eight matches.

Meanwhile, Trabzonspor are fourth in the table with 26 points from 15 league outings.

Most read in Football

🚨🇹🇷 Crazy scenes in Turkey...

Istanbulspor president Faiksarıaloğlu stormed onto the pitch mid-game and took his team into the changing room in protest at referee decisions! 🤯

— EuroFoot (@eurofootcom) December 19, 2023

This comes after Turkish football was thrown into chaos after Ankaragucu president, Faruk Koca, punched a referee in the face during Ankaragucu's clash against Rizespor.

Meler had sent off one player from each side before Rizespor equalised in the seventh minute of injury time to force a 1-1 draw. Koca then ran on to the pitch after the game before hitting the referee, who was then kicked by another person while on the ground.

Koca was subsequently arrested and the TFF said the 59-year-old has been banned in response to the incident. Meler left hospital two days later after being treated for injuries, including a small fracture under his eye.

Matches across all of Turkey's leagues were suspended following the assault. The TFF also fined Ankaragucu £54,000 and ordered them to play five games behind closed doors among a number of sanctions following the incident.

Tuesday's matches had all been preceded by club managers presenting flowers to the referees in a show of support for Meler.