HAMBURG: Europe's football body UEFA handed a two-match ban today to Turkish soccer player Merih Demiral for his politically charged "wolf" celebration and fined England's Jude Bellingham €30,000 (RM152,894) for a crotch-grabbing gesture at Euro 2024.
Centre back Demiral, 26, will now miss Turkiye's quarter-final tomorrow against the Netherlands, prompting outrage and a call by his government for the punishment to be rescinded.
Midfielder Bellingham, 21, is, however, clear to play for England in their quarter-final against Switzerland, also tomorrow. Though he got a one-match ban too, it was suspended depending on good behaviour.
Demiral, 26, mimicked the shape of a wolf's head with his fingers after his second goal in Turkiye's 2-1 win over Austria in the last 16. The symbol dates back centuries but has in recent times been linked to Turkey's far-right "Grey Wolves" group and was condemned as racist by Germany.
UEFA said Demiral was 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 he had planned the gesture and was proud of it as an expression of patriotism. Turkey's football association plans to appeal the decision, Turkish media said.
"The beauty and excitement of football should not be overshadowed with political decisions," said Turkey'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 when walking off after 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 misbehaviour, UEFA also fined the English Football Association €10,000 for crowd disturbances and €1,000 for lighting of fireworks during the Slovakia game.
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 as a laugh with friends.
"An inside joke gesture towards 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 furore over Demiral's gesture, Turkey's President Tayyip Erdogan is planning to attend his nation's game in Berlin.
"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," he said on Thursday, according to Turkish media.
The "Grey Wolves", whose symbol Demiral evoked, is an ultra-nationalist youth branch of Turkey'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.
Turkey's foreign ministry has defended the gesture as "a historical and cultural symbol" that Demiral used without targeting anyone at the game. The symbol goes back to use by some Turkic tribes of Central Asia and also by Turkey after its foundation in 1923, but the hand gesture used by the player has been adopted by the MHP in recent decades. - REUTERS