UEFA official Erzik refuses to be TFF chairman

ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News

If elected next week, UEFA Vice President Şenes Erzik will return to the TFF chair after quitting the post in 1997.

UEFA Vice President Şenes Erzik announced yesterday that he would not run for the vacant Turkish Football Federation (TFF) chair, CNNTürk reported

The Union of Clubs confirmed earlier it would support Erzik for the TFF chair, the group’s vice chairman announced Feb. 17.

Hasan Akıncıoğlu, the vice chairman of the Union of Clubs and the president of the Turkish club Medical Park Antalyaspor, announced they had agreed on Erzik’s name.

“Our sole candidate for the TFF chairman is Şenes Erzik,” Akıncıoğlu said in a statement. “He is the candidate of all the chairmen.”

The Union of Clubs is comprised of the chairmen of 18 top-flight clubs.

The announcement came a day after Erzik said he might take the job if “he is the only solution.”
“This is an extraordinary situation,” Erzik said. “After the offers I got from the clubs, it gets harder for me to remain indifferent, which I had to be due to my position at UEFA.”

Earlier this week, Erzik met with Turkey’s Youth and Sports Minister Suat Kılıç.

However, Kılıç said yesterday he did not “intend to be involved” with the TFF chair decision, advising the clubs to “suggest a name and stand behind him.”

Erzik, a former TFF chairman and the honorary president, is the highest-profile Turk in the governing body of world football.

Last month, Mehmet Ali Aydınlar resigned from the post in an unexpected move, amid pressure after the match-fixing case.

The new chairman, who will be voted upon on Feb. 27, will have the tough task of imposing possible bans on several teams allegedly involved in match fixing.

At least eight teams’ officials are allegedly enmeshed in the match-fixing scandal. k HDN