He was taken aback! İbrahim Hacıosmanoğlu made Ali Koç swallow his pride.

The delegation of the Clubs Union Foundation met with the management of the Turkish Football Federation. After the closed-door meeting held at the TFF's center in Riva, the President of the Clubs Union Foundation and the President of Fenerbahçe Club, Ali Koç, made a statement to the press.

"WE SHARED OUR 5-YEAR ROADMAP WITH OUR FEDERATION"

Ali Koç stated that they held a meeting with the TFF regarding the issues they decided to work on based on their own requests, saying, "Football is in great trouble economically. We went over what has happened in Turkish football over the last 5 years, where we have come from and where we are now, and we shared the 5-year roadmap prepared by the clubs with our federation. We will start a working group to make our initial assessments and presentations by the end of the year. Turkish football is becoming increasingly unsustainable economically, but the only responsible parties are not just the managers and clubs. We reiterated that it stems from economic reasons completely outside the clubs. The decline in broadcasting and Sports Toto revenues, the rise in exchange rates, the increase in inflation, COVID... None of these are the responsibilities of the clubs, but they affect the clubs the most," he expressed.

BROADCASTING REVENUES

Koç emphasized that broadcasting revenues need to increase, stating, "We discussed how we can get out of the problems, how we can increase revenues, and how we can reduce our expenses. We need to address the issue of piracy to increase broadcasting revenues. There is an urgent need to increase penalties. Service providers need to invest in technology and prevent this. There is a tender in 2027. We need to work in 2026 so that we can conduct the tender in the best way possible for revenue increase in the 2027-2028 season," he said.

"OUR SPORTS TOTO REVENUES HAVE DECREASED BY 100 TIMES"

Addressing the declining revenues in recent years, Ali Koç stated, "Our Sports Toto revenues have decreased by 100 times in 10 years, but the pie has grown significantly. There are sponsorships from the federation, fund and broadcasting revenue cuts, and there is a 6% higher cut compared to last year. The reasons were explained, which is reasonable, but our goal is to reduce this year's cut of 28% to 20% in a few years and to 15% in the medium and long term. In Europe, this figure ranges between 3 and 15," he evaluated.

STATEMENTS ON THE CENTRAL REFEREE COMMITTEE

Koç mentioned that they consulted on the structuring of the Central Referee Committee (MHK), saying, "The MHK President made a very good, satisfactory presentation. We agreed on the need for the Clubs Union and our federation to work together for the future structuring of the MHK, if a company is to be established. We see that young people and new names are emerging in the MHK. We need to be patient as well. At least for the first half of this season, it would be more reasonable for clubs to discuss their issues directly with the federation, and we talked about the importance of managers not making statements to put pressure on referees before important matches, and if statements are to be made, they should be consulted with the federation. The federation is open on this matter," he stated.

Ali Koç mentioned that they exchanged ideas regarding the e-ticket tender, saying, "Clubs are free to work with any ticketing company they want. The important thing is that new ticketing companies need to work in harmony with Netaş. If there is a mismatch, neither the federation nor the infrastructure company is responsible. Only the clubs are held responsible. Therefore, we need to design this very well," he commented.

THE ISSUE OF STANDING SPECTATORS

Koç emphasized the need to take steps regarding standing spectators during matches, stating, "We discussed the issue of standing fans in stadiums. It was brought to the agenda a few years ago at the request of Göztepe. However, we have not been able to implement it. There are some obstacles. It is done in many leagues in Europe, but it was not done in UEFA matches. Clubs participating in UEFA matches could not provide this. UEFA is implementing the standing spectator issue for the first time in its matches in 5 countries. Why should we fall behind in this matter? There will be a capacity increase of up to 20%. There will be an increase in enthusiasm. At least 6-7 clubs want this. Our Minister of Interior held a very beneficial meeting with stakeholders regarding the safety of football. I would like to thank our Minister for that," he evaluated.

"WE SWALLOWED OUR TONGUE"

Ali Koç also expressed his views on the presentation made by the federation, saying, "These were the issues brought by the clubs. The federation also made a presentation to us. They will explain this themselves, but in short, we can say that we swallowed our tongue on this matter. They explained the photo they took, and we were affected by that photo. They will explain it in due time, but it was a very beneficial meeting for Turkish football," he said.

Koç emphasized that clubs need to be careful regarding financial fair play, stating, "In the coming years, Turkish clubs have not been under scrutiny regarding financial fair play for the last few years. We discussed that there may be scrutiny in the coming years and that we need to stretch our feet according to our blanket, but with the shrinking economies, there is no longer a blanket. The 5-year roadmap is very important for this," he stated.

"INSHALLAH TURKISH TEAMS WILL GO AS FAR AS THEY CAN"

Wishing success to Turkish teams in European cups, Ali Koç said, "May God open our way. 4 of our teams are continuing. Başakşehir, Galatasaray, Beşiktaş, and Fenerbahçe. May we have good luck. Inshallah, we will earn as many points as we can. We are stepping into a brand new system. We do not know what will happen. It is a very different system, but inshallah, Turkish teams will go as far as they can," he concluded.