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UEFA on Friday suspended Turkish football player Merih Demiral for two matches for making a controversial gesture during Turkey’s Euro 2024 match with Austria earlier this week.
The suspension rules Demiral out of Turkey’s quarterfinal match against the Netherlands on Saturday, which Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said he plans to attend after the controversy blew up following the Austria game in Leipzig on Tuesday.
Demiral celebrated a goal making the shape of a wolf’s head with his hands, a symbol of Turkey’s far-right and ultra-nationalist Grey Wolves organization. The incident triggered a diplomatic row between Berlin and Ankara, with German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser declaring that “symbols of Turkish right-wing extremists have no place in our stadiums” and calling on UEFA to “investigate the case and consider sanctions.”
On Friday, UEFA said it had determined that Demiral “violated basic rules of decent conduct” and decided to ban the Turkish player for “using sports events for manifestations of a non-sporting nature and for bringing the sport of football into disrepute.”
Turkish state media TRT immediately criticized UEFA’s move, labeling it a “scandalous decision.” The Turkish foreign ministry earlier defended the gesture as “not banned in Germany” and described the reactions by the tournament hosts as “xenophobic.”
As the diplomatic dispute heated up, Erdoğan scrapped plans to attend a summit of the Organization of Turkic States in Azerbaijan on Saturday, and said he would fly to Berlin instead to support Turkey at its quarterfinal match against the Netherlands.
“Does anybody ask why the German national jersey has an eagle, or the French jersey a rooster?” Erdoğan told reporters on a flight from Kazakhstan on Thursday. “Merih showed his excitement with that gesture,” he said.
“Hopefully, the whole issue will be resolved on Saturday. Let us leave the field with a win and go to the next round,” Erdoğan said.
If Turkey wins on Saturday and progresses, Demiral will also miss the semifinal match.
