[QODLink]
Football
Fenerbahce chairman behind bars
Aziz Yildirim joins 25 others already remanded in custody as match-fixing investigation continues in Turkey.
Last Modified: 10 Jul 2011 18:22
Yildirim is accompanied by plainclothes police after the allegations emerged last week [EPA]

An Istanbul court jailed the chairman of league champions Fenerbahce on Sunday pending trial on charges of match-fixing, TV reports said.

The investigation could result in the club being stripped of their title.

Chairman Aziz Yildirim joins 25 people already remanded in custody after police raids at the weekend, prompted by evidence of manipulation in 19 matches, which Turkey's prime minister said has stained Turkey's image.

Yildiz had been taken for medical treatment after prosecutors called for him to be jailed on Friday, but his questioning was completed on Sunday, and the court ordered him to be jailed.

According to media reports, Fenerbahce and Yildirim are at the centre of the investigation.

The suspects are accused of manipulating games last season which saw Fenerbahce clinch the title in the final game, outstripping Trabzonspor on goal difference.

Fenerbahce's vice-president Sekip Mosturoglu and financial chief Tamer Yelkovan are among the suspects already in prison.

Two Fenerbahce players – Nigerian striker Emmanuel Emenike and forward Sezer Ozturk – were questioned and released.

The Turkish Football Federation is expected to decide whether to slap any immediate sanctions on the Istanbul giants by Friday, the deadline to notify UEFA of which teams will play in European competitions.

Source:
Agencies
Topics in this article
People
Country
City
Organisation
Featured on Al Jazeera
Al Jazeera's exclusive publishing of a key Guantanamo prison military document lays bare the brutality of force-feeding.
Former military official says poverty and anger in indigenous communities mean conditions for an "insurgency" are ripe.
A four-part series that gives a rare insight into the country on the move, with history in tow.
Series on the Palestinian 'catastrophe' of 1948 that led to dispossession and conflict that still endures.
Featured
A four-part series that gives a rare insight into the country on the move, with history in tow.
Series on the Palestinian 'catastrophe' of 1948 that led to dispossession and conflict that still endures.
Two years since the start of the uprising, rebels and Assad's forces remain locked in conflict.
China aims to expand its influence in the resource rich area.
Extensive coverage of war crimes tribunals and controversial calls for blasphemy laws.
join our mailing list