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Shared passion Greece, Turkey forging closer ties through soccerPosted: Tuesday December 03, 2002 8:25 AMISTANBUL (Reuters) -- Greeks and Turks are passionate about most things in life and soccer is no exception. But until recently, the fans love for the game has been a one-sided affair with little being given back to them by either club teams or their national sides. In fact, Greek fans are still waiting. At least Turkish fans have had something to celebrate recently with Galatsaray winning the UEFA Cup in 2000 and their national team finishing third in the World Cup this summer. For Greeks their soccer heroes have done little to bring them joy. On the one occasion Greece qualified for the World Cup finals in the United States in 1994 the team crashed out of the competition losing all their games and conceding 10 goals without scoring. The World Cup ignominy was a major setback for coach Alketas Panagoulias' team after an impressive qualifying campaign that reached its peak in front of a sellout crowd in Athens when Greece beat Russia thanks to Nikos Machlas goal. These disappointments may have eroded support for the national team but they have done little to put off a soccer-mad public in a country that supports a dozen daily sports broadsheet newspapers. Despite a brief challenge from basketball during the 1980s, football is the national sport. The game turned professional in 1979 and reached its peak in terms of attendances in the late 1980s when league matches regularly attracted crowds of more than 70,000 at the newly-built Olympic Stadium in Athens. Athens's historic trio of Olympiakos, Panathinaikos and AEK along with the northern favorites PAOK Salonika have consistently dominated the fiercely partisan domestic soccer scene. The high point of Greek club football came at Wembley in 1971 where Panathinaikos were beaten in the European Cup final by Ajax Amsterdam. Both Olympiakos and Panathinaikos have reached the last eight of the Champions League in the last four seasons, which has contributed to a steady climb up UEFA's European rankings to the current sixth place. Huge investment Turkish soccer has been dominated by the likes of Galatasaray, Fenerbache and Besiktas for decades, and while they were once the whipping boys of both European club and international soccer that has now changed. The days when Turkey's national team weere regularly on the end of a thrashing have gone. Huge investment in the game at grass roots level -- and with the clubs actively nurturing the best of the young talent available both in Turkey and in Germany where there is a large Turkish population -- have brought dividends. Galatasaray's victory over Arsenal in the 2000 UEFA Cup final -- albeit on penalties -- was a huge boost to the country's self-esteem and their outstanding performance at the World Cup this summer merely reinforced the notion that after 80 years of organized soccer, the Turkish game has finally come of age. Euro 2008 in Greece, Turkey would be lively affairISTANBUL (Reuters) -- The joint Turkish-Greek bid was born out of the pain of twin earthquakes that killed thousands in both countries in 1999. The two neighbors have a century of conflict, controversial population exchanges and bitter struggles for control of the Aegean Sea they share. But devastating earthquakes in 1999 sparked a mutual outpouring of sympathy and ties have warmed ever since. The joint bid was born of that optimism. Turkey, one of the International Monetary Fund's biggest debtors, has made a series of bids for major sporting events, hoping they will provide a shot in the arm for the economy and bring in much needed tourist revenues. Istanbul failed last year in its third bid to host the Olympic Games, losing out to Beijing. It is now lobbying furiously to bring a Formula One Grand Prix to the city in 2005, while Athens is gearing up for the 2004 Olympic Games. If they do end up jointly hosting the 2008 championship, it will be a monumental step forward for both countries following a flurry of diplomatic contacts after the earthquakes. The Turkish soccer federation formally proposed a joint-bid, which was immediately accepted by their Greek counterparts. Greek Culture Minister Evangelos Venizelos expressed his confidence that UEFA would see the practical and political merit of the Aegean bid. "It is the most complete and dynamic proposal for two reasons: Firstly, because we have the sporting, tourist and general facilities to enable us to stage such an important event. "The second reason is straight-forwardly political, the common candidacy is an important societal initiative from citizens," he said. Tayyip Erdogan, the leader of the new ruling party after November elections, is a former soccer player and has given his full backing to the bid. International praise Greece has placed great emphasis on the experience it will gain from hosting the 2004 Olympics in Athens and will be hoping that recent international praise for progress on venue construction, transportation and security will enhance the credibility of the candidacy. However, one of the main stumbling blocks facing the next Olympic host is the decrepit state of Greece's football stadia. The bid calls for a major overhaul at all four of the designated host cities: Athens, Thessaloniki, Patras and Iraklion, on Crete. Athens Olympic Stadium, which is slotted to host the Euro 2008 final, is currently closed as it undergoes a major overhaul prior to the Olympic Games. While the Olympic complex will be ready in 2003, the outdated and crumbling Patras and Iraklio grounds will need extensive rebuilding work to meet the proposed 32,000-seater venue outlined in the bid. The Kaftantzoglio stadium in Greece's second city Thessaloniki, closed for refurbishment prior to the Olympics, will need an additional stand by 2008. Sources close to the Greek Football Association (EPO) estimate the initial construction budget for the three grounds will exceed 25 million euros with approxiomately 50 million euros being spent in all. The crumbling stadia are an indication of the poor financial state of the game in Greece, which worsened in September as the country became the latest victim of digital broadcasters failure to make money from the sport. The collapse of Alpha Digital has left the bulk of the country's top teams without TV revenue and sparked a bitter row between club owners and the government. The League of Professional Clubs (EPAE) staged a one-month shutdown in October -- that coincided with the UEFA inspection -- after ministers refused to compensate teams for loss of revenue through an expanded share in profits from state-run betting pools. Turkish organizers meanwhile have been pushing the business potential of their country, which Turkish bid coordinator Sami Colgecen described as "an untapped and hungry market" for sponsors to work on. Intimidating behavior Turkish crowds, not just in Galatasary's Ali Sami Yen stadium nicknamed "Hell," have a reputation for intimidating behavior ranging from abusive chants to flares and throwing objects onto the pitch and UEFA are regularly fining Turkish clubs for crowd trouble and rule infringements. No matter what spin, organizers put on their bid, that is a problem. Questions remain too over the Greek public's reaction to the joint effort and a first-ever European meeting between clubs from the two countries backfired on organizers. Violent scenes marred the first leg of the UEFA Cup tie between Fenerbahce and Panathinaikos in Istanbul, where supporters from both teams responded angrily to a delegation of Greek-Turkish foreign ministers pelting them with yoghurt during a walkabout at pitch-side. The clubs decided to ban travelling supporters for the return leg in Athens, which passed off without incident following an unprecedented security operation at the Apostolos Nikolaidis stadium in November. The barrage has done little to dampen political support for the effort with one of its main architects, Greek Foreign Minister George Papandreou, dismissing the missile throwing as unimportant. "I believe sport will form an important incentive in this new enlarged Europe to enable youth from all over the continent to come together," he said. UEFA President Lennart Johansson denied reports this week he had said the crowd trouble would damage the Greek-Turkish bid but concerns must remain about whether the two could host a trouble free event. Factbox:VENUES: The following eight venues are planned:
Opening match to be played Istanbul Olympic stadium, projected capacity 80,000 -- Final to be played at Athens Olympic Stadium, capacity 75,290. COST: Turkey has budgeted 50 million euros for the construction of the Antalya Stadium and a further 25 million euros for improvements to Izmir's Ataturk Stadium. The costs will be guaranteed by the Turkish government and the Football Federation. Greece has an estimated budget for stadium construction of around 50 million euros. FOOTBALL SET UP: Turkey's Federation was founded the same year as the country, in 1923 but football had been played in major cities since the late 19th century. Teams from Istanbul, Izmir and Ankara played their first joint tournament in 1937 but it was not until 1958 that the first national league was formed and won by Fenerbahce. The top clubs in Turkey are all from Istanbul: Galatasaray, Fenerbahce and Besiktas. Sides from other cities have mounted challenges, including Trabzonspor, Genclerbirligi, Gaziantepspor and Ankaragucu. Turkey has 164 registered professional clubs and hundreds of smaller sides. The top professional sides play in the 18-team Super league, while others are spread over three lower divisions. There are 123,850 players in the country registered with the Football Federation. The Greek FA was founded in 1926 with affiliation to FIFA following in 1927. There are currently 4378 registered clubs and approximately 500,000 registered players at all levels. The leading clubs are Olympiakos Piraeus, Panathinaikos and AEK Athens. FOOTBALL HONOURS: Greece has only qualified for one European championship (1980) and one World Cup (1994). Turkey's first senior international honor was Galatasaray winning the UEFA Cup in 2000. This summer Turkish finished third in the World Cup finals. PREVIOUS HISTORY: Turkey has staged the European basketball and swimming championships as well as numerous world and European weightlifting and wrestling competitions. Greece has a long history of staging international sporting events starting with the ancient Olympic Games. In modern times the biggest events have been the 1982 European Athletics championships and the 1997 World Athletics championships in Athens. POLITICAL SITUATION: Turkey and Greece have a long history of rivalry throughout the centuries. In modern times there has been territorial disputes over the Aegean Sea as well as the Mediterranean island of Cyprus.
Copyright 2003 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. |
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