HAMBURG: Europe’s football governing body UEFA handed a two-match ban to Turkish soccer player Merih Demiral for a politically-charged “wolf” celebration and fined England’s Jude Bellingham 30,000 euros ($32,469) for a crotch-grabbing gesture at Euro 2024.
Center back Demiral will now miss Turkiye’s quarter-final against the Netherlands, though midfielder Bellingham can play for England against Switzerland, both on Saturday. He also got a one-match ban but suspended depending on good behavior.
Demiral, 26, mimicked the shape of a wolf’s head with his fingers after his second goal in Turkiye’s win over Austria in the last 16. The gesture is linked to Turkiye’s far-right “Grey Wolves” group and was condemned as racist by Germany.
UEFA said he was being punished “for failing to comply with the general principles of conduct, for violating the basic rules of decent conduct, for using sports events for manifestations of a non-sporting nature and for bringing the sport of football into disrepute.”
Demiral said after the game that he had planned the gesture and was proud of it as an expression of love for his country — a position Turkiye’s government has backed.
“The beauty and excitement of football should not be overshadowed with political decisions,” said Turkiye’s Vice President Cevdet Yilmaz on X, urging an overturning of the ban.
In Bellingham’s case, after scoring a stunning bicycle kick to keep England in the game, he kissed his hand and lowered it to his groin at the final whistle in a 2-1 win over Slovakia that took his team to the quarter-finals.
His fine and suspended one-match ban were “for violating the basic rules of decent conduct,” UEFA said in its statement.
“Said suspension is not immediately enforced and is subject to a probationary period of one year, starting from the date of the present decision,” it added.
In the latest of a slew of sanctions against participating countries for fan misbehavior, UEFA also fined the English Football Association 10,000 Euros for crowd disturbances and 1,000 Euros for lighting of fireworks during the Slovakia game.
’INSIDE JOKE’
There was no immediate reaction from England’s FA.
Bellingham, who had been widely praised in the past for maturity beyond his years, said his gesture was not aimed at Slovakia, as some interpreted it, but for a laugh with friends.
“An inside joke gesture toward some close friends who were at the game. Nothing but respect for how that Slovakia team played tonight,” he said hours after the game.
Amid the furor over Demiral’s gesture, Turkiye’s President Tayyip Erdogan was planning to attend his nation’s game in Berlin on Saturday, Turkish media have reported.
“Does anybody ask why the German national jersey has an eagle, or the French jersey a rooster? Merih (Demiral) showed his excitement with that gesture,” Erdogan was quoted as telling reporters on Thursday on a flight from Kazakhstan.
The “Grey Wolves,” whose symbol Demiral evoked, is an ultra-nationalist youth branch of Turkiye’s Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), an ally of Erdogan’s ruling AK Party.
Established in the 1960s, the “Grey Wolves” were involved in political violence between leftists and nationalists that killed some 5,000 people around the time of a 1980 coup.
The group is outlawed in France and its symbol is banned in Austria. It is also under surveillance in Germany.
Turkiye’s Football Federation plans to appeal, Turkish media said.
