By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul president Ali Koc didn’t bite his tongue when he was asked to comment on the recent decision of EuroLeague clubs to scrap the results against Russian clubs in the standings.
The Fenerbahce president criticized Anadolu Efes‘ stance, which ultimately voted against the alternative model which was presented, namely that the final standings could be determined by the percentage of wins, similarly to the NBA.
“A decision has been taken. We won all three of our matches against the Russians. Again, we are negatively affected by this decision. We presented the second alternative. The first alternative was that all matches with the Russians would not be counted. There was so much effort and expense”, said Koc.
“We also presented the second alternative. As in the NBA, the matches should be counted, the percentage of wins should be calculated and the ranking should be made accordingly. It was voted on. Of the 13 clubs that are shareholders of EuroLeague, two are Turkish. Voting ended 6 to 7. Even though we asked Efes, nothing much changed for them. Efes amazes me. I will write a letter to Tuncay Özilhan (Anadolu Efes president) and share it with the public. This is not the first, it’s the third event. We will share them and you will be amazed. I thought I knew him well, but I guess I was mistaken. They were so shameful. I didn’t know there was this much Fenerbahce complex and hatred”.
The alternative model proposed would benefit clubs that have already won games against the three Russian clubs – CSKA Moscow, UNICS Kazan, and Zenit – and Fenerbahce had a 3-0 streak prior to their suspension from the competition.
The result of the voting has created a lot of controversies, though Efes head coach was equally critical of the decision, highlighting that it puts six clubs (including Fenerbahce) in a “disadvantageous position”.
Fenerbahce has already formally disagreed with the decision of the 14 A-licensed clubs. If EuroLeague ultimately expels Russian clubs, the final standings will include 28 games for each team and the results of the Russian clubs will be removed.