Mehmet Büyükekşi, President of the Turkish Football Federation (TFF), also made a statement as a foreign referee while evaluating the agenda. Büyükekşi said, “We want to increase the number of VAR referees from 12. Maybe we can bring foreign referees for VAR. We need VAR referees with high quality rather than numbers. Compared to the past, the 12-week VAR decisions are quite good. We do not have a foreign referee on the middle referee’s agenda, it is out of the question. ” said.
Mehmet Büyükekşi, President of the Turkish Football Federation (TFF), said that nowhere in the world no explanation was made about the referees before and after the match, and that the quality of the game should not be read through the referees.
Büyükekşi was the guest of Anadolu Agency Sports Desk at TFF Hasan Doğan National Teams Camp and Training Facilities in Riva.
Stating that the “Shooting and Goal: Turkish Football History Exhibition”, opened yesterday at the Presidential Complex Exhibition Hall as part of the 100th anniversary of the Republic, brought together all the stakeholders of football, Büyükekşi said, “We wanted it to be an opening worthy of the 100th anniversary. Indeed It was so. Next year is the 100th anniversary of the foundation of our republic. This is also a milestone for Turkish football. The 100th anniversary of the Turkish Football Federation in 2023. It is also important that the two coincide with the same year. All the stakeholders of football were together yesterday. In fact, our President is in the middle of the job, he has played professional football for years. He knows the past much better than us. There are trophies displaying the achievements of the Turkish National Team in the exhibition. The trophies of our successful teams in Turkish football history, the notebooks Atatürk signed during his visit, and even Papers and uniforms dating back to the 1850s are on display.” he said.
Noting that football is friendship and brotherhood, Büyükekşi continued his words as follows:
As a first step towards this, we did some work while forming our board of directors. We have at least one female member on all our boards. Football is a game of contemplation, not war. A 45-second public spot was shot for television. I was in London on Monday, met with the Premier League Executive. We asked, ‘Do club presidents talk about the referee before and after the match?’ They said, ‘Such a thing cannot be written in our dictionary, it certainly does not happen’. If the coach speaks, there are already big penalties. Such a thing no longer exists anywhere in the world. We need to talk about the team’s game and tactics. We should not read the quality of the game through the referee. Some players can score in one of 10 positions. That doesn’t mean the player is bad. The same goes for referees. We need to change this culture. Hopefully we will be able to do that too.
“THIS IS OPEN TO ALL CLUBS AND PRESIDENTS, BUT…”
Asked about the club presidents’ visits to the federation, Büyükekşi said, “We do not wish for such a thing. The four main issues that we attach importance to when coming to office were trust, justice, equality and transparency. We believe that everything will be resolved through dialogue. There is a valid situation especially for our press, it has information. They write articles without knowing the truth. If they knew the truth, they wouldn’t write like that, they wouldn’t speak like that. Everything is transparent. Everything is transparent. This place is open to all clubs and presidents, but it is our greatest desire to share beauties, friendships, future plans, not for them to complain.” gave the answer.
“SEEK THE ERROR ELSEWHERE”
Büyükekşi gave the example of the Premier League in response to the criticisms regarding the appointment of referees and said:
There are 20 teams in the Premier League, they have 19 referees. 19 referees serve in VAR and on the field. We have 23 pitches and 12 VAR referees. Our number of referees is much more than them. The same referees are on duty, of course they will. A referee cannot be appointed to a match of the same team before three weeks. In England, much more of the same referees are on the same team match. First of all, we need to develop a sense of trust. The fault must be sought elsewhere. If we continue to search through the referees, we will make a mistake. We have criteria. There are points received by the referees in the last 3 matches, there are also points received since the beginning of the season, points are added according to being a FIFA referee. The number of our FIFA referees is certain. The matches of Fenerbahçe, Galatasaray, Beşiktaş and Trabzonspor are mostly managed by FIFA referees, they are more experienced. These referees also manage matches abroad, neither team complains. Since they have done this abroad, they should do it here as well.
Giving details about the graphic shown to him in England, Büyükekşi said, “They measured the performances of the referees working on the field every 15 minutes, the decisions they made in the last 15 minutes are affected by this, they can be negative. We give points according to the running performance of our referees. If a referee measures the same kilometer as the running average of the players of both teams If he runs, we give him plus points. If he runs under, we give minus points. We can’t do this to the VAR referee. Our aim is to ensure specialization. There may be difficulties from time to time. We apply the VAR protocol. If there are differences with the past, we need to explain it well. Our coaches, presidents and players need to know the rules well. In order to eliminate these problems, we hosted the members of the press in the VAR room. Last week, we had our club presidents and coaches demo in the VAR room, we asked them to direct a live match. This was not a one-time thing, anyone who wants to come and work in the VAR room by making an appointment. can see them.” made its assessment.