Turkish football league to restart from June 12 after coronavirus disruptions

Turkey fans cheer for their national team during the 2016 FIBA Olympic men's qualifying basketball tournament match between Turkey and Senegal in Manila on July 7, 2016. / AFP / TED ALJIBE (Photo credit should read TED ALJIBE/AFP/Getty Images)

The Turkish football league will restart from June 12 after being suspended amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The Super Lig was among the last leagues to put the league on pause and could be one of the first to return.

The Turkish top tear postponed all games from March 18 onwards due to the spread of Covid-19.

Turkish Football Federation president Nihat Ozdemir released a lengthy statement regarding the latest decision.

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A statement released by Ozdemir said: “We are experiencing one of the most challenging periods in human history. The coronavirus epidemic that has emerged in China has surrounded the world and continues to be effective even after five months.

“As the Republic of Turkey under the leadership of our President, Mr Recep Tayyip Erdogan, we show an example to the world by taking timely measures to fight against all kinds of disasters.

“We are getting better every day in our fight against the pandemic. However, we must continue our way without giving up the measures and never leaving the struggle.

“Turkish football was also affected by this process. With the decisions taken by our state, we are among the countries that took measures in sport in the fastest way. We played our matches without spectators after the first cases seen in Turkey on March 11, we stopped our league after the first fatal cases.

“Thank God that there was no virus on our pitches at that time.

“As we have strictly complied with the decisions of our state, our Health Board carried out very important work for returning to football. A protocol containing all the precautions was prepared to play football. We shared the first part of this with the public, and we will announce the competition phase to our clubs and the public as soon as possible.

“Today, our Board of Directors convened.

“We made evaluations within the scope of the Normalisation Plan prepared by our state with all institutions and organisations. We know the difficulty and responsibility of our mission. We drew a road map considering all the conditions.

“I would like to announce to you now our decision, which the public opinion is waiting for.

“For now, we have decided to start our postponed Super League, TFF 1st League, 2nd League, 3rd League and Regional Amateur Leagues in the week of June 12-13-14, even though we have different scenarios.

“The Ministry of Health and the Scientific Committee will decide how and under which conditions the competitions will be played. In this process, we will inform all our clubs about the principles that will emerge at the end of the process, which includes the evaluations made by the Science Board together with our Health Board.

“We aim to complete the season with the support of all institutions of our state.”

Just a week after the league was initially suspended Galatasaray manager Fatih Terim was hospitalized after contracting the virus.

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Tüm dünyanın geçtiği bir sınav bu… Kimimiz virüsle, kimimiz sabırla, kimimiz akıl ve izanla sınanıyoruz. Allah, herkesin sınavını, kalbine göre versin… Ben, bu sınavdan çok şey öğrenerek çıkacağım. Daha çok kıymet bilecek, karantina süreci sonrası aileme ve sevdiklerime daha çok vakit ayıracağım. Ürettiğim, katkı sağladığım her şeyin bana daha çok huzur vermesini sağlayacağım. Daha çok affedeceğim, daha az üzülmeye çalışacağım. Hastane aşamasını tamamlayıp evimdeki aşamaya geçiyorum. Bu süreçte başta Prof.Dr.Ferah Ece olmak üzere tüm Liv Hospital doktorlarına, çalışanlarına; desteğini, duasını eksik etmeyen büyüklerime, arkadaşlarıma, dostlarıma; oyuncu evlatlarıma ve yol arkadaşlarıma; başta kalbi sarı kırmızı atan canlarım olmak üzere tüm renklere gönül vermiş kardeşlerime; sabırla ve umutla yanımda olan aileme teşekkür ederim. Ne olur, imkanlarınız el verdiğince evinizde kalın ve kendinizi koruyup önlemlerinizi alın. Dün olduğu gibi bugünden sonra da ettiğim her duada, bu virüsle mücadele eden tüm savaşçılar ve hayatlarını, hayatlarımız için adayan tüm sağlık emekçileri olacak. Herkese elim kalbimde şükranlarımı sunuyorum…

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John Obi Mikel refused to play the final week of games and terminated his contract as a direct result of the decision to play football during the outbreak.

Several high profile footballers also voiced their concern at the time.