{"id":249659,"date":"2024-11-12T14:24:41","date_gmt":"2024-11-12T14:24:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/11\/12\/former-turkish-club-chief-jailed-for-punching-referee\/"},"modified":"2024-11-12T14:24:41","modified_gmt":"2024-11-12T14:24:41","slug":"former-turkish-club-chief-jailed-for-punching-referee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/11\/12\/former-turkish-club-chief-jailed-for-punching-referee\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Turkish Club Chief Jailed For Punching Referee"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"p1\"><strong>MKE Ankaragucu president Faruk Koca throws a punch at referee Halil Umut Meler after the Turkish Super Lig game with Caykur Rizespor<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>A Turkish court sentenced a former top-flight football club executive to more than three and a half years in prison yesterday, for attacking a referee on the pitch at the end of a league game last season.<\/p>\n<p>Former Ankaragucu president Faruk Koca punched referee Halil Umut Meler in the face after the final whistle of a 1-1 draw in a Super Lig game against Caykur Rizespor last year.<\/p>\n<p>Meler, who fell to the ground, was also kicked in a melee that occurred when fans also invaded the field after Rizespor scored a last-minute equaliser on December 11, 2023.<\/p>\n<p>The incident had caused global outrage and prompted the Turkish Football Federation to suspend all league games for several weeks.<\/p>\n<p>The court in Ankara convicted Koca of \u201cintentionally wounding a public official\u201d and sentenced him to three years and seven months in prison, the state-run Anadolu Agency reported.<\/p>\n<p>The court also convicted Koca of threatening the referee and of violating laws aimed at preventing violence in sports, but suspended the sentences.<\/p>\n<p>Three other people who were also on trial for attacking the referee, were sentenced to prison terms ranging from one to five years, the agency reported.<\/p>\n<p>Koca, who resigned as club president soon after the incident, is expected to appeal the verdict. He was briefly jailed last year before being released on bail.<\/p>\n<p>Earlier, lawyers representing the defendants requested their acquittal, claiming that they had committed the crime under \u201cunjust provocation,\u201d Anadolu reported.<\/p>\n<p>Ankaragucu was fined 2 million Turkish Lira ($59,000) and forced to play five home games without fans.<\/p>\n<p>The referee was briefly hospitalised with a small fracture near his eye.<\/p>\n<p><!-- CONTENT END 2 -->\n\t<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>MKE Ankaragucu president Faruk Koca throws a punch at referee Halil Umut Meler after the Turkish Super Lig game with Caykur Rizespor \u00a0 A Turkish court sentenced a former top-flight football club executive to more than three and a half years in prison yesterday, for attacking a referee on the pitch at the end of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":249660,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-249659","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-local-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Former Turkish Club Chief Jailed For Punching Referee - Ghanamma.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/11\/12\/former-turkish-club-chief-jailed-for-punching-referee\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Former Turkish Club Chief Jailed For Punching Referee - Ghanamma.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"MKE Ankaragucu president Faruk Koca throws a punch at referee Halil Umut Meler after the Turkish Super Lig game with Caykur Rizespor \u00a0 A Turkish court sentenced a former top-flight football club executive to more than three and a half years in prison yesterday, for attacking a referee on the pitch at the end of [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/11\/12\/former-turkish-club-chief-jailed-for-punching-referee\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Ghanamma.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-11-12T14:24:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Turkish-Club.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"642\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"428\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Ghana News\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Ghana News\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/11\\\/12\\\/former-turkish-club-chief-jailed-for-punching-referee\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/11\\\/12\\\/former-turkish-club-chief-jailed-for-punching-referee\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Ghana News\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/c70749f3edfbfcd92d45e933f0fe10b5\"},\"headline\":\"Former Turkish Club Chief Jailed For Punching Referee\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-11-12T14:24:41+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/11\\\/12\\\/former-turkish-club-chief-jailed-for-punching-referee\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":297,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/11\\\/12\\\/former-turkish-club-chief-jailed-for-punching-referee\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/11\\\/Turkish-Club.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Local News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/11\\\/12\\\/former-turkish-club-chief-jailed-for-punching-referee\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/11\\\/12\\\/former-turkish-club-chief-jailed-for-punching-referee\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/11\\\/12\\\/former-turkish-club-chief-jailed-for-punching-referee\\\/\",\"name\":\"Former Turkish Club Chief Jailed For Punching Referee - Ghanamma.com\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/11\\\/12\\\/former-turkish-club-chief-jailed-for-punching-referee\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/11\\\/12\\\/former-turkish-club-chief-jailed-for-punching-referee\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/11\\\/Turkish-Club.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-11-12T14:24:41+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/c70749f3edfbfcd92d45e933f0fe10b5\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/11\\\/12\\\/former-turkish-club-chief-jailed-for-punching-referee\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/11\\\/12\\\/former-turkish-club-chief-jailed-for-punching-referee\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/11\\\/12\\\/former-turkish-club-chief-jailed-for-punching-referee\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/11\\\/Turkish-Club.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/11\\\/Turkish-Club.jpg\",\"width\":642,\"height\":428},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/11\\\/12\\\/former-turkish-club-chief-jailed-for-punching-referee\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Former Turkish Club Chief Jailed For Punching Referee\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/\",\"name\":\"Ghanamma.com\",\"description\":\"Ghana mma provides breaking news, top stories in Ghana, Africa, business, entertainment, politics and more.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/c70749f3edfbfcd92d45e933f0fe10b5\",\"name\":\"Ghana News\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/22cb97c2b08df229330efb2b8c2645feaae8d3ca3ee434035fbb668b5b82f570?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/22cb97c2b08df229330efb2b8c2645feaae8d3ca3ee434035fbb668b5b82f570?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/22cb97c2b08df229330efb2b8c2645feaae8d3ca3ee434035fbb668b5b82f570?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Ghana News\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/author\\\/ghanamma\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Former Turkish Club Chief Jailed For Punching Referee - Ghanamma.com","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/11\/12\/former-turkish-club-chief-jailed-for-punching-referee\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Former Turkish Club Chief Jailed For Punching Referee - Ghanamma.com","og_description":"MKE Ankaragucu president Faruk Koca throws a punch at referee Halil Umut Meler after the Turkish Super Lig game with Caykur Rizespor \u00a0 A Turkish court sentenced a former top-flight football club executive to more than three and a half years in prison yesterday, for attacking a referee on the pitch at the end of [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/11\/12\/former-turkish-club-chief-jailed-for-punching-referee\/","og_site_name":"Ghanamma.com","article_published_time":"2024-11-12T14:24:41+00:00","og_image":[{"width":642,"height":428,"url":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Turkish-Club.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Ghana News","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Ghana News","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/11\/12\/former-turkish-club-chief-jailed-for-punching-referee\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/11\/12\/former-turkish-club-chief-jailed-for-punching-referee\/"},"author":{"name":"Ghana News","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/#\/schema\/person\/c70749f3edfbfcd92d45e933f0fe10b5"},"headline":"Former Turkish Club Chief Jailed For Punching Referee","datePublished":"2024-11-12T14:24:41+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/11\/12\/former-turkish-club-chief-jailed-for-punching-referee\/"},"wordCount":297,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/11\/12\/former-turkish-club-chief-jailed-for-punching-referee\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Turkish-Club.jpg","articleSection":["Local News"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/11\/12\/former-turkish-club-chief-jailed-for-punching-referee\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/11\/12\/former-turkish-club-chief-jailed-for-punching-referee\/","url":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/11\/12\/former-turkish-club-chief-jailed-for-punching-referee\/","name":"Former Turkish Club Chief Jailed For Punching Referee - Ghanamma.com","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/11\/12\/former-turkish-club-chief-jailed-for-punching-referee\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/11\/12\/former-turkish-club-chief-jailed-for-punching-referee\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Turkish-Club.jpg","datePublished":"2024-11-12T14:24:41+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/#\/schema\/person\/c70749f3edfbfcd92d45e933f0fe10b5"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/11\/12\/former-turkish-club-chief-jailed-for-punching-referee\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/11\/12\/former-turkish-club-chief-jailed-for-punching-referee\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/11\/12\/former-turkish-club-chief-jailed-for-punching-referee\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Turkish-Club.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Turkish-Club.jpg","width":642,"height":428},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/11\/12\/former-turkish-club-chief-jailed-for-punching-referee\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Former Turkish Club Chief Jailed For Punching Referee"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/","name":"Ghanamma.com","description":"Ghana mma provides breaking news, top stories in Ghana, Africa, business, entertainment, politics and more.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/#\/schema\/person\/c70749f3edfbfcd92d45e933f0fe10b5","name":"Ghana News","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/22cb97c2b08df229330efb2b8c2645feaae8d3ca3ee434035fbb668b5b82f570?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/22cb97c2b08df229330efb2b8c2645feaae8d3ca3ee434035fbb668b5b82f570?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/22cb97c2b08df229330efb2b8c2645feaae8d3ca3ee434035fbb668b5b82f570?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Ghana News"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024"],"url":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/author\/ghanamma\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249659","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=249659"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249659\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/249660"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=249659"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=249659"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=249659"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}