Turkish Super Cup final postponed over banner row

The game that was supposed to take place at Al-Awwal Stadium was canceled when the official start time arrived.

The final of the Turkish Super Cup that was going to take place in Saudi Arabia was delayed due to a conflict between the football teams and the ruling authorities of the host nation.

The game was supposed to start at 5:45 PM GMT, but it got canceled at 7 PM due to the presence of numerous spectators in the Al-Awwal Stadium in Riyadh.

The football game was cancelled due to difficulties in arranging the event. The Turkish Football Federation and the clubs involved pointed fingers at the organization of the match. They claimed that there were issues that arose when authorities refused to let banners featuring an important person in Turkey's history, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, be displayed.

It was anticipated that Galatasaray and Fenerbahce would attend the highly-anticipated match between the league and cup champions of Turkey with banners displaying Ataturk's famous quote "Peace at home, peace in the world". However, the Saudi officials did not authorize the display of these banners.

The athletes were prohibited from entering the field while sporting T-shirts featuring the likeness of Ataturk.

From 1923 until his passing in 1938, Ataturk acted as the inaugural President of Turkey, initiating a radical plan of social and political change in order to bring the country up to date with modern times.

The changes consisted of granting women freedom, dismantling all Islamic establishments and implementing Western legal regulations, attire, calendar, and alphabet. The Latin script was adopted in place of the Arabic one.

Before the announcement was made, high-ranking members of Galatasaray and Fenerbahce teams assembled with the president of the Turkish Football Federation (TFF), Mehmet Buyukeksi, for a gathering.

The TFF and the clubs together declared that they have made a collective decision to postpone.

We want to thank the football federation of the country where the Super Cup is taking place and all the groups that have worked hard to make it happen.

The organisers of the game, known as the Riyadh Season, stated that they were eager to host the match as scheduled and in compliance with worldwide football guidelines. These rules call for the sport to be conducted without any slogans or messages beyond its intended scope. Additionally, they shared that this was previously discussed with the Turkish federation as a part of the preliminary meetings for the match.

Although they had agreed upon it, it's regrettable that the teams didn't follow through with their agreement, resulting in the match not taking place.

Turkey has been receiving criticisms for agreeing to hold the game in Saudi Arabia, especially because 2023 is a significant year for them since it marks the 100th founding of their modern Turkish Republic.

Samsunspor and Besiktas, who are both clubs in the Turkish Super Lig, have requested that the game be held at their respective stadiums.

In the middle of December, the entirety of the Turkish leagues came to a halt following an incident where MKE Ankaragucu president named Faruk Koca physically attacked a referee named Halil Umut Meler.