Fenerbahce announced that they used a youth team and left the pitch early during their Turkish Super Cup final against Galatasaray to “defend the truth.”
The two Istanbul-based teams played on Sunday afternoon, with Fenerbahce using their Under-19 team.
Mauro Icardi scored for Galatasaray right at the beginning of the match, prompting Fenerbahce to walk off the pitch in protest of what they believed were recent unfair actions.
The club had asked for the match to be postponed so they could have more time to prepare for their UEFA Europa League quarter-final against Olympiacos on Thursday, but their request was denied.
Galatasaray was awarded the match after it was abandoned. Fenerbahce president Ali Koc stated at a press conference before the match that it was time for Turkish football to start fresh.
Fenerbahce was also unhappy about not being allowed to have a foreign referee for the match, as they believed Turkish officials were biased towards their opponents.
Adding to their frustration were one-match bans for two players after Trabzonspor fans invaded the pitch during a game against Fenerbahce on March 17, resulting in altercations between the players and the intruding fans.
The match was already controversial when the original hosts, Saudi Arabia, refused to allow players to wear shirts with the image of modern Turkey’s founder, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk during warm-ups.
The match was supposed to take place in Riyadh in September.
In a statement on their official X account and website, the club wrote: “Today, when we take to the field not to win but to defend the truth, what we want to emphasise in order to summarise our attitude is this:
“Serving Turkish sports with its 117-year history not only in football but in every branch we compete in, [with] thousands of trophies in its museum bearing the traces of sweat and labour.
“Feeling the national values of his country with his 30 million fans. As the world’s largest sports club, we will continue to stand tall today and tomorrow, as we did yesterday.”
