Who is Faruk Koca? Turkish club president who punched match official

FIFA condemned Faruk Koca action with match official

An irate club chairman attacked the official on the field, causing the Super Lig to be rocked, Turkish football to be disrupted and even leader Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to weigh in on the matter. One Turkish media outlet called the incident “a scandal that will not be forgotten for many years.”

The Argentine forward Adolfo Gaich of Caykur Rizespor scored a goal in the final minute to give his team, MKE Ankaragucu, a 1-1 draw in the Turkish capital. Following the game, Ankaragucu’s president, Faruk Koca, walked onto the pitch and struck the official Halil Umut Meler in his face.

A brawl featuring a dozen people broke out around Meler, who was shown in photos curled up in the foetal form on the turf with his arms folded over his head to defend himself while players and coaches tried to hold Koca. The state-run media organisation Anadolu said, “Ankaragucu fans cheered and supported Koca.”

Anadolu stated that Koca “felt faint after his violent action on the pitch,” and both were transported to a hospital in the Turkish capital.

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Meler was brought under extreme safety to the official’s office. Later, Koca used the website of Ankaragucu to make public his departure as president.

Ali Yerlikaya, Turkey’s interior minister, stated on X that Koca, a former lawmaker for Erdoğan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) who served as an Ankara district representative for over ten years, was undergoing treatment “under the observation of our security forces.”

After seeing Koca and two others on camera rushing onto the field, Yılmaz Tunc, the minister of justice, announced that Koca and the other two had been detained and questioned. He noted that anyone who approached the pitch, be it employees or spectators, had broken a law that forbids aggression and disturbance in sports.

According to a report in the Turkish daily Cumhuriyet, Koca was sent to Sincan jail, which is located outside of Ankara, along with two other defendants.

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