While the UEFA regulations prohibit any political reference on the ground, the Turkish team again made a military salute yesterday against the Blues. A celebration of purpose depriving France of a qualification that "poses a problem".
This is the editorial sport of Virginie Phulpin. France and Turkey drew 1-1 everywhere last night at the Stade de France. For you, the goal of Turkey changes a lot.
For football first. It prevents the Blues to qualify for the Euro. They will have to wait and beat Moldova in a month to get their ticket. Suffice to say that it is not very serious as a setback. They should get there.
No, what is problematic is the celebration of the Turkish goal. With the players posing in doing the military salute. Sign of support for the Turkish armed intervention against the Kurds in Syria. They had already done it on Friday against Albania. That's a problem. The regulation prohibits any political reference in the field. UEFA must take responsibility and punish Turkey. Otherwise, there is no point in having rules. The instance of European football repeats since Friday that it will examine the file. Yes, do it now.
A banner of support to the Kurdish people was briefly displayed in the stands last night, it was quickly withdrawn. So we must also act to punish the gesture of Turkish players. And that is up to UEFA to do, not to French politicians. Many were asked to cancel the match yesterday. Some callers the French players not to enter the field. Frankly, this is the only answer to defend the Kurds? We can ask Antoine Griezmann to lead the game of the Blues, but not to lead the foreign policy of France. I have an idea: what if everyone stayed in their area of expertise? For that, UEFA must first invest it, its field of competence, and take its responsibilities.
The Turkish fans took them, their responsibilities
They were 30,000 at the Stade de France, and they were very smart last night. Responding to the red cloth stirrers. Everyone was watching for their attitude during the Marseillaise. Not a whistle. And it must have cost them, huh. Anyone who knows soccer in Turkey knows that bronca is a second nature at home. Not for political reasons, but because they are exuberant supporters, who often go beyond the limits. So yes, they whistled the Blues as soon as they had the ball, that is to say very often. But no, it's not a provocation.
We only talked about risks all day, and they managed to polish their image and make a beautiful communication operation. It may be time for UEFA to be smarter than Turkish fans. But that's not won.