Beşiktaş refuses to let coach Şenol Güneş take over Turkish national team post

ISTANBUL

Beşiktaş has rejected a proposal by the Turkish Football Federation (TFF) for the team’s coach to manage the national team for the four remaining matches of the 2018 World Cup qualification.

A statement published on the club’s official website said the federation had offered the position to Şenol Güneş following the sacking of national football director Fatih Terim.    
    
“It was agreed by club chairman Fikret Orman and our coach Şenol Güneş that filling the manager’s position for the national football team for four matches while at the same time being Beşiktaş coach would not benefit either side, either to our proud national football team or Beşiktaş, which will represent our country in the Champions League,” read the Istanbul club’s statement.

The TFF responded, saying the decision was “respectable.”

The federation is reportedly in talks with another former national coach, Abdullah Avcı, to fill the vacant post. Avcı, Terim’s predecessor, took over Turkey in November 2011 and resigned in August 2013 after a poor run of results.

He then took over the coaching position at Başakşehir, which he led to the runner-up spot in the Spor Toto Super League last season.

Terim’s three-year tenure as the Turkish football’s top coach ended last week when the TFF announced that the two sides parted ways.

“Recently, several non-football related topics that occupied media coverage have reached the stage of wearing out Turkish Football Director Fatih Terim and the Turkish Football Federation,” the TFF said in a statement on its website announcing the decision.

Terim was recently involved in a brawl in the holiday resort of Alaçatı, İzmir, amid tensions between his son-in-law, who runs a restaurant in the resort, and the owner of a neighboring kebab house.

The owner of the kebab house, a former friend of Terim, filed criminal charges against the veteran coach on accusations of assault. 

In a written statement on July 30, Terim said he had not stepped down but was actually fired by the TFF. As such, the TFF is obliged to pay Terim a compensation of 3.5 million euros ($4.15 million), amounting to what he would have received if his four-year contract had been fully completed.   

Terim returned to coaching the national side in 2013, his third spell in charge. However, he failed to achieve the same success as he got in his second tenure, when Turkey reached the semifinals of Euro 2008.

Turkey currently sits third place in the 2018 World Cup Qualification Stage Group I on 11 points, with its fate depending on the failure of its opponents in the remaining matches.