In the truest sense of the word, UEFA has shown the two top Istanbul clubs the red card and banned them from competitive international matches for their fraud pending in court in the 2010/2011 season.

A medium-sized earthquake in football-mad Turkey. Both clubs immediately announced protests against UEFA's decision, which would mean an international ban with serious damage to their image and financial losses of millions.

Will the fans and supporters of the two Istanbul clubs Fenerbahçe and Beşiktaş not see competitive international matches as part of UEFA?

In the so-called scandal season 2010/2011, Fenerbahçe was Turkish champion and Beşiktaş cup winner.

In Turkish football, at least 19 matches are said to have been postponed in the 2010/2011 season, including Fenerbahçe's crucial match against Sivasspor, in which Fenerbahçe won the Süper Lig title on the last matchday.

The police had arrested more than 80 managers, players and coaches from several clubs. The indictment read in part like an Italian mafia-style crime thriller about conspiracy deals, venal gamblers and armed gangs. A number of games were therefore manipulated with large amounts of money.

For Fenerbahçe not the only problem that the club has to digest first. Shortly after the UEFA decision, it became known that an Istanbul court had removed the club's president. Aziz Yildirim is not allowed to exercise his office until the allegations in the manipulation scandal have finally been legally clarified.

Both clubs had already qualified to take part in events organized by UEFA last season: Fenerbahçe in second place behind champions Galatasaray for the Champions League, Beşiktaş third for the Europa League.

The Turkish newspaper Zaman compared UEFA's crackdown on the manipulation scandal to a "football earthquake" if the clubs' appeal were to be defeated. According to UEFA's will, Fenerbahçe may not participate in the UEFA competition for the upcoming season and any following season for which the club has qualified. Even a third qualification would only allow us to participate on parole terms. The penalty for Beşiktaş was a little milder, with the ban only valid for one season. Among the Turkish football experts, there is talk not only of the financial losses, but also of the blatant image damage caused by the manipulations. The football finance expert Tugrul Aksar puts the possible losses of the clubs at around 120 million euros.

While Turkey's record international player Hakan Sükür called for respect for the UEFA decision and called for changes in the Turkish football world, Fenerbahçe announced that they intend to exhaust "all legal options" against the verdict. "It looks like the club will be punished for the actions of individuals," said Fenerbahçe board member Yasemin Mercil.

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