Fenerbahce Istanbul and Galatasaray Istanbul did not play in the Super Cup final in Saudi Arabia on Friday evening. A former Schalke player was in the thick of it. The background.

Scandal in Saudi Arabia: Because the country’s security authorities have banned the teams of Galatasaray Istanbul and Fenerbahce Istanbul from wearing warm-up shirts with the likeness of Turkey’s founder Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, both clubs have agreed not to play in the Super Cup final in Riyadh that evening.

Both teams have not left the hotel and are now on their flight back to Turkey. The teams are expected to return to Istanbul’s Sabiha Gökcen Airport in Turkey at around 2 a.m. German time with ex-Schalker Kaan Ayhan in the service of Galatasaray Istanbul.

The postponement of the match to Saudi Arabia in the year of Turkey’s centenary had already caused a stir in the run-up to the game. Both otherwise hostile clubs did not actually want to play there, but ultimately had to bow to the pressure and financial interests of the Turkish Football Association.

As a result, they apparently came up with the T-shirt campaign. They also wanted to run out with a banner with a slogan from the founder and first president of the Republic of Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk: “Peace at home, peace in the world”. The Saudis have apparently forbidden this as well.

The fans already in the stadium then sang the Turkish national anthem, but the “Istiklal Marsi” was drowned out by loud music. In addition, a video was shown on the Turkish television station “Halk-TV” in which the spectators chanted the slogan “We are the soldiers of Mustafa Kemal”.

Both clubs have thus made a clear commitment to secularism in Turkey. This also impressed Istanbul’s third city rival Besiktas Istanbul, which also feels committed to the values of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk – and therefore a clear separation of state and religion. He invited Fenerbahce and Galatasaray to play the match at the Besiktas Stadium. “Our door is open”, they wrote on social media.

According to “Halk-TV”, the president of the Turkish Football Association, Mehmet Büyükeksi, has since resigned. It is still unclear when and where the match will be rescheduled