The Turkish Super Cup final between Fenerbahçe and Galatasaray was cancelled when the footballers were not allowed by the Saudi authorities to take the pitch with shirts bearing photos of Atatürk or banners featuring his words, Turkish media outlets reported.
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk is the founder of modern Turkey and is widely respected in the country. The game was to have honored the centennial anniversary of the proclamation of the Turkish Republic, marked on October 29.
There was no official statement from either of the clubs or from the Turkish Football Federation (TFF) about the fate of the game or the reasons for its reported cancellation. But reports said the footballers have already left their hotels and were heading to the airport in Riyadh to leave the country.
The Turkish Super Cup is a match between the league champions (Galatasaray) and cup winners (Fenerbahçe) and was to be played at Al-Awwal Park Stadium in Riyadh at 8.45 p.m. local time Friday evening.
Earlier on Friday, Fenerbahçe President Ali Koç said Saudi authorities were not allowing the banner featuring Atatürk’s famous words, “Peace at home, peace in the world.”
An hours-long meeting of Koç, Galatasaray President Dursun Özbek, TFF President Mehmet Büyükekşi and Saudi authorities failed to resolve the crisis.
The reported cancellation of the game due to the Atatürk banners and shirts led to an emotional thunderstorm on social media, with people from all walks of life and fans of various clubs lauding the Fenerbahçe and Galatasaray team members for their decision not to play the game and sharing photos and words of Atatürk.
Some football clubs invited the players to their stadiums in Turkey to play the game.
The government of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has also come under intense criticism due to its decision to allow Saudi Arabia to host the game.
The TFF announced last week that the Super Cup match between Galatasaray and Fenerbahçe would be played in Saudi Arabia despite both clubs requesting to play in Turkey and public pressure for the game to take place at home because it marks the centennial anniversary of the proclamation of the Turkish Republic.
Ties between Riyadh and Ankara suffered a heavy blow with the 2018 killing of Saudi journalist and government critic Jamal Khashoggi in the kingdom’s Istanbul consulate.
President Erdoğan previously said the “highest levels” of the Saudi government ordered the killing, although he has never blamed Prince Mohammed bin Salman, commonly known as MBS.
Erdoğan pushed hard to revive bilateral ties in 2022, a move analysts described as largely driven by economic considerations.
In April 2022 he paid his first visit to Saudi Arabia since the Khashoggi killing, where he met with MBS before traveling to Mecca.
MBS followed with a visit to Ankara in June 2022.