Ankaragucu president Koca resigns following his arrest for punching referee
Faruk Koca has resigned as president of Turkish club Ankaragucu following his arrest for punching a referee in the face at the end of a game, with the match official telling police that Koca had threatened to kill him.
Ankaragucu issued a statement confirming that Koca had stepped down, replaced by his deputy, Ismail Mert Firat.
Koca’s arrest followed an outbreak of violence at the end of Super Lig club Ankaragucu’s home match against Rizespor on Monday evening.
Referee Halil Umut Meler, who was also kicked by a supporter who invaded the pitch after being floored by Koca, said that Koca had threatened him and his colleagues, the state-owned Anadolu news agency reported.
“Faruk Koca punched me under my left eye ... I fell to the ground. While I was on the ground, other people kicked me in the face and other parts of my body many times,” he said. “Koca said to me and my colleagues, ‘I will finish you’. Addressing me, he said, ‘I will kill you’.”
The Turkish court that made the arrest ruling also remanded in custody two other suspects over the incident.
“This incident developed due to the wrong decisions and provocative behaviour of the referee. My aim was to react verbally to the referee and spit in his face,” Koca told the court, according to Demiroren news agency.
The Turkish Football Federation said it had suspended all leagues after the “shameful” incident in Ankara. They are slated to resume on December 19.
The TFF, meanwhile, are expected to announce their own sanctions against Koca and Ankaragucu today.
Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc said Koca and two others were formally arrested for “injuring a public official” after prosecutors took statements from them. “The investigation is continuing meticulously,” he said on social media platform X, adding that judicial controls were imposed on three other suspects.
Koca entered the field and hit Meler when the final whistle blew after Rizespor scored a 97th-minute equaliser in the 1-1 draw at Eryaman Stadium.
“The bleeding in Meler’s left eye started to decrease” and there will be no permanent damage,” said Mehmet Yorubulut, chief doctor of Acibadem hospital. “The fracture there will gradually heal. There is no brain damage.”
Koca was twice elected to Turkey’s parliament as part of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling AK Party.
He was expelled from the AKP during a meeting of the party’s executive committee on Tuesday. After the match, footage showed Ankaragucu fans invading the pitch and Meler was also kicked when he fell. He eventually made it to the dressing room with the help of the police.
The TFF said Ankaragucu, its chairman, club officials and all those guilty of attacking the referee will be “punished in the strongest terms possible”. Gianni Infantino, president of world football’s governing body Fifa, said the events after the match were “totally unacceptable and have no place in our sport or society”.
“Without match officials there is no football,” he added.
Pierluigi Collina, chairman of Fifa’s referees committee, described images of the incident as horrific.
“Neither the referee, nor the man, deserved to live the experience he lived yesterday in Ankara. He was doing his job when he was assaulted on the field of play at the end of a match he just officiated,” Collina said.
“Even more horrific is to know that there are thousands of referees around the world who are verbally and physically abused at lower levels of the game across the world, without being reported by media.”