Hacıosmanoğlu on Sergen Yalçın, Referees and Gündoğdu Remarks

TFF President İbrahim Hacıosmanoğlu spoke about Sergen Yalçın, who was appointed head coach of the A National Team, during a live broadcast on A Spor. Hacıosmanoğlu said Yalçın was not chosen from among many candidates, and that he himself took on this post with honor. Noting that Vincenzo Montella received a lot of criticism but did good work, Hacıosmanoğlu stressed that the decision was made by their own will.

Addressing the referee issue, Hacıosmanoğlu said Anthony Taylor did not intend to leave Turkey until he had trained at least 15 thousand referees. Saying that referee decisions had varied over the past three weeks, Hacıosmanoğlu said referees would be supported and would gain experience by officiating matches. Taylor's report stated that, due to pressure from big clubs, referees did not go to the spot on the field where they should have gone and waited for a VAR review.

Recalling that Ferhat Gündoğdu had been taken into custody, Hacıosmanoğlu said he believed Gündoğdu was innocent. Stating that he could not accept in conscience that Gündoğdu was being tried in detention on apparent charges, Hacıosmanoğlu said he had reported himself over his remarks about referees. He added that Gündoğdu's correspondence had leaked to the press and that a criminal complaint had been filed about it.

On the broadcast rights tender, Hacıosmanoğlu said the Clubs' Union had its demands, that the specifications would be issued on Tuesday or Wednesday, and that the tender would be held on November 30. Noting that expectations were around 400 million dollars, he added that in an open tender the highest bid would win.

Hacıosmanoğlu announced that people who bet against his own team would be referred to the Ethics Board and that the Chief Public Prosecutor's Office had been informed. Touching on the red card incidents in the Galatasaray-Trabzonspor match, he argued that the match should have had 8-10 minutes of added time, that the referee added only half a minute, and he called for an investigation into the legal and illegal betting on that match. On EURO 2032, he said Italy had financial and political problems, and that if Italy could not get its stadiums ready, Turkey could host the tournament alone.