Political scandal. Galatasaray and Fenerbahçe refused to play the match for the Turkish Super Cup

The giants of Turkish football, Galatasaray and Fenerbahçe, were due to meet today in a match for the country's Super Cup. The game was supposed to take place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. However, both teams did not even arrive at the stadium.

Even before the start of the match, there was a conflict between the representatives of both clubs and the hosts of the Super Cup match: the players wanted to enter the field before the starting whistle wearing Mustafa Kemal Atatürk's shirts, but the local authorities did not approve of this decision. As a consequence, the teams refused to play.

In a joint statement, the Turkish Football Federation, Galatasaray and Fenerbahçe said the match would not take place "due to some failures in organisation".

"Super Cup 2023, which was scheduled to be played on Friday, December 29, has been postponed to a later date as a result of a joint decision we made with our clubs due to some failures in organisation," the statement said.

It is likely that this match will still take place, but will be played in Turkey.

It is noteworthy that this is not the first political scandal involving Saudi Arabian representatives this season. In October, Al-Ittihad refused to play with Sepahan away in the AFC Champions League. The reason was a bust of Qasem Suleimani, which the Iranian side had placed at the teams' exit from the substation to the pitch.