DISGRACED Ankaragucu president Faruk Koca has resigned after he punched a referee – and said he only meant to spit at the official.
Turkish football has been SUSPENDED indefinitely after last night’s shocking attack following Ankaragucu’s 1-1 draw with Rizespor in the Turkish Super Lig.
The away team snatched a point at the death as Adolfo Gaich grabbed an equaliser in a bad-tempered game that had also included two red cards as both Ankaragucu’s Ali Sowe and Rizespor’s Emirhan Topcu received their marching orders.
However, more trouble erupted after full-time when ref Halil Umut Meler was confronted and PUNCHED by an irate Faruk Koca, leaving the whistler with a fractured cheek.
The explosive footage showed him connecting with a punch at the unsuspecting official, sending him crashing to the ground, before Meler was then kicked by another unidentified person while trying to protect his face.
Security, players and coaching staff raced to the scene to stop the attack from going even further as the visibly-shaken Meler was eventually helped to his feet.
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Meler was then spotted sporting a huge black eye as he was escorted from the field before heading to hospital for treatment for head trauma and what was later discovered to be a fractured cheek.
The actions of Koca, who has been the president of Ankaragucu since 2021, have been widely-condemned across the game.
And now the 59-year-old, who along with two others has been placed in pre-trial detention for “injuring and threatening a public official”, has confirmed his resignation.
He said: “I would like to announce to the public that I have resigned from the MKE Ankaragucu Presidency in order to prevent any further harm to the Ankaragucu club, Ankaragucu fans, the community I am in and my family.
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“I hope that this incident, which I, more than anyone else, cannot accept, will be a reason for our sports life, especially our football community, to be purified from mistakes, shortcomings and the culture of violence.
“At the same time, I hope that the structural problems of Turkish football will be discussed more realistically due to this grave incident that I caused.
“I would like to take this opportunity to apologise again to everyone I have upset, especially Ankaragucu fans.
“I would like it to be known that I am deeply saddened that both the club I manage, the football community, and our country are remembered with such an event and image.”
Koca issued an apology to Meler and his family and all Turkish referees and said that attitudes that “cast a shadow on fair play” do not belong in stadiums.
But earlier in the day he was reported to have claimed that he had not been responsible for the fractured cheek suffered by the official – and instead said that he had only intended to SPIT in his face.
As reported by CNN Turk, Koca said: “My aim was to react verbally to the referee and spit in his face.
“At this time, I slapped the referee in the face. The slap I gave did not cause a fracture.
“After the slap I gave, the referee stood for about 5-10 seconds, then threw himself on the ground.
“They immediately removed me from the scene because of my heart disease. Other than that, I am not aware of any incident that took place.”
Meler, 37, is one of Turkey’s top referees and is on Fifa’s international list as well as Uefa’s elite list.
He issued a statement earlier after being rushed to hospital that read: “Faruk Koca punched me under my left eye and I fell to the ground.
“While I was on the ground, they kicked my face and other parts of my body many times.
“Faruk Koca told me and my fellow referees: ‘I will finish you’. Addressing me in particular, he said: ‘I will kill you.’”
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Meler was pictured in his hospital bed with a huge black eye among several other facial injuries today.
It was then reported that the bleeding in his left eye has now started to decrease and the cheek fracture he sustained will “gradually heal” and that there is no permanent damage following further facial and neurological tests.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
