A story quintessentially Turkish. The classic nosedive right after success. We’ve seen many such stories in this country. We live in a system of constant zigzags, where the very idea of stability is alien. And people’s personalities are shaped accordingly.
Just the other day, we witnessed something like this at the Galatasaray–Adana Demirspor game. I had taken a friend to the game for the first time and told him I expected Galatasaray to win by a wide margin. I was expecting lots of goals and action—and the first 30 minutes were exactly that. Galatasaray relentlessly pushed forward from both flanks, generating at least 7 or 8 scoring opportunities. Several of these were clear one-on-one chances, but they couldn’t convert.
Among those chances, unfortunately, was a play where Mertens earned a penalty. And that penalty resulted in a goal.
52,000 Disappointed Fans
Normally, I watch replays of controversial plays on the screen in our box, but this time I didn’t. The friend next to me looked it up and remarked, “That probably wasn’t a penalty.” He was right. We had been awarded and scored by a penalty that never should have been given. What happened next was jaw-dropping. Around the 30th minute, in protest of that unfair decision, Adana Demirspor President Murat Sancak ordered the team to leave the field.
For us, the game was over. I had never experienced anything like this before. A game that should’ve lasted at least 90 minutes ended for us after just half an hour. All 52,000 Galatasaray fans who had gone through the usual struggle to get there were in the same boat. We were all victims of the opposing president’s overly emotional, biased, and amateurish decision. And it wasn’t just Galatasaray fans—Adana Demirspor fans were there too. I’m sure they were equally disappointed. True Adana Demirspor supporters couldn’t possibly have approved of such a childish “I’m taking my ball and going home” move.
A Rapid Rise, a Rapid Fall
Not long ago—just seven years, in fact—when Murat Sancak became president of Adana Demirspor, nobody expected the team to become so successful in such a short time. Similarly, nobody could have imagined that a team on such a promising trajectory would plummet to the bottom of the league in record time, becoming the first side all but confirmed for relegation (mathematically there’s still a chance, but every fan knows it’s virtually impossible for them to survive).
Let’s briefly review Sancak’s background: https://tr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murat_Sancak).
Sancak’s Presidential Record
Owner of a pharmaceutical company, Sancak gained public visibility in sports after becoming president of Adana Demirspor. Before that, he had no history of managing Adana Demirspor—or any other club—and was never mentioned in club congresses. He was elected president in 2018, at a time when the club was in administrative turmoil, with frequent leadership changes and no sporting success. He stated: “Everyone must step up. Right now, the club has 37 million lira in debt. Every penny I put in will be registered as a donation. Future presidents shouldn’t expect to take their money back. This club must be institutionalized. (…) And if I see support waning, I won’t stay a minute longer.” In his first three seasons, Adana Demirspor failed to gain promotion from the First Division, but in the 2020–21 season, they finished first and reached the Süper Lig after 26 years. During this time, he converted the club into a corporation, pledged to stay on as president, and promised to take the club public. In its first Süper Lig season, the team finished 9th; the next year, 4th; and in 2023–24, the club qualified for European competition for the first time in its history. But in the second half of that same season, the team plunged into a financial crisis. With a largely revamped squad, they fought to avoid relegation and ultimately finished 12th. During this time, Sancak frequently criticized the Turkish Soccer Federation (TFF) and referees and received various penalties in response. To avoid suspension due to repeated sanctions, he transferred the presidency to Metin Korkmaz on 25 February 2024.
Resigning and Returning Again and Again
With a transfer ban from FIFA and a limited squad, the 2024–25 season started poorly, with a string of defeats. Even though he wasn’t president at the time, Sancak was heavily criticized for the club’s debt. The TFF also docked the team 3 points.
He returned as president on 6 June 2024. After the team earned a single point from seven games, fans staged a protest march on 4 October. Two days later, Sancak stepped down again, handing over to Bedirhan Durak. Meanwhile, he continued arguing with fans on his personal X account and published documents showing he had paid fan group leaders. He also faced backlash over unpaid debts.
On 9 February 2025, during the Galatasaray–Adana Demirspor game, he pulled the team off the field in the 30th minute.
The Roots of the Rise and Fall
To me, it’s not surprising that Murat Sancak’s presidency went from great success to complete collapse. There are several key reasons:
1) Lack of Financial Sustainability: Sporting success requires sustainable finances. Initially, Sancak poured significant funds into the team—hiring Italian manager Vincenzo Montella and signing players like Svensson, Rodrigues, Semih Güler, Ndiaye, Stambouli, Emre Akbaba, Yusuf Sarı, Yusuf Erdoğan, Nani, Akintola, Gulbrandsen, and Balotelli. At that time, it seemed like Adana Demirspor was on the rise. But soon, they started losing key players, especially because they couldn’t pay salaries. This raises the question: If Sancak could fund the team at first, why couldn’t he keep it up?
2) He Talks Too Much, Unnecessarily: He constantly argues with stakeholders, rival club officials, the TFF, and other fan bases. This behavior hurt both his image and the club. His inflammatory statements repeatedly earned him penalties from the TFF, including bans.
3) He’s a Hardcore Fenerbahçe Fan: He’s from Siirt, serves as Adana Demirspor president, and is also a congress member and diehard fan of Fenerbahçe. Isn’t that a massive contradiction? He’s often forgotten he represents Adana Demirspor and made extremely misguided statements because of this conflict.
4) He’s Unprofessional: Most Turkish club presidents are cut from the same cloth. None of them have formal training in sports club management. Many get there on ego and try to prove themselves with posturing. Like Sancak, most don’t even speak a foreign language. Imagine how they communicate with foreign players and coaches. This shallow knowledge and inflated ego might allow temporary success, but in the end, they always crash and burn. Amateurism oozes from every corner.
Ironically, instead of seeing a formal response from Adana Demirspor or the TFF after these events, Sancak once again took to TV to make absurd excuses. And who came out swinging with instant reactions, harsh criticism of Galatasaray, and social media trolling? You guessed it—Fenerbahçe fans. Not surprising at all.
The Penalty Should Have Been Kicked Out of Play
Does Galatasaray bear any blame here?
Yes, it does. Mertens has a history of trying to win questionable penalties. Someone should have warned him beforehand. And once the penalty was given, coach Okan Buruk (if he watched the replay) should have instructed the player to miss on purpose. If he had, we might have taught someone like Murat Sancak—a hardcore Fenerbahçe supporter and Galatasaray hater—a valuable lesson.
Ironically, just a week before this game, Adana Demirspor had lost to Fenerbahçe due to a similarly dubious penalty. Yet after that game, Sancak praised the refereeing and didn’t dream of pulling his team off the field. But when it came to a game against Galatasaray, he staged a spectacle, aiming to overshadow an otherwise successful season for Galatasaray—and to some extent, he succeeded.
The Only Solution: Mandatory Education
People like Murat Sancak and the Ankaragücü president who physically assaulted a referee should be banned for life from running sports clubs. They’re terrible role models and their destructive mentalities only worsen Turkey’s already chaotic environment and hinder the progress of Turkish soccer.
That’s why I strongly believe we need a mandatory training program for sports club leadership in Turkey. Only those who complete this education (and pass the exams), speak a foreign language (especially English), and pass a psychological evaluation should be allowed to run sports organizations.
The Rot Starts at the Top
Otherwise, we’ll keep watching club officials like Ali Koç, Murat Sancak, and Faruk Koca wreak havoc with scandal after scandal.
Let’s not forget—we live in a country where the rot starts at the top. Just look at the head of the TFF. Ibrahim Hacıosmanoğlu, who once refused to let referees leave the stadium during his tenure as Trabzonspor president, is now the head of the Turkish Soccer Federation. The same man who used to posture like a street bully now contradicts his past at every turn—and has no qualifications for the role.
At the end of the day, Turkish soccer reflects the state of the country: full of twists and turns, but ultimately in decline. Sadly, I don’t see this changing anytime soon. Because the rot starts at the head.
Tags: sports, social responsibility, life, business, special occasions
