On June 8, the vote for the position of president of the Fenerbahçe club, popularly known as the ‘yellow canaries’, will take place. The battle between the two candidates is extremely tight. Big guns have been brought out against the current club president, Ali Koç. Aziz Yıldırım has unveiled a plan to modernise the stadium, and the visuals presented are clearly reminiscent of the Santiago Bernabeu.

Elections in Turkish: Mutual accusations and political gamesmanship

Fenerbahçe, one of the oldest sports clubs in Türkiye, will hold one of the most important presidential elections in its 117-year history on June 8-9. The congress, which will be held at Ülker Stadium, is attracting a huge amount of attention, becoming the number one topic on Turkish sports programmes. The mutual statements, claims and accusations of Ali Koça and Aziz Yıldırım polarise fans.

Discussions cover a variety of topics, including the political affiliations of the candidates. Among the allegations are accusations of bringing the club to the brink of bankruptcy and hiding the real amounts of Fenerbahçe's debts. A few days before the election, Aziz Yıldırım revealed information that could be crucial to his chances of becoming the club's president.

© A&Z Aksu Mimarlik

New Şükrü Saracoğlu stadium like Bernabeu

Turkish Real Madrid - this is what we can call the activities we observe in Istanbul for several days now. First, former Los Blancos coach Jose Mourinho came to the club and now a plan to renovate Şükrü Saracoğlu has been released. Not too much information has been presented, but we have learned the general outline of the redevelopment.

The renovation of the stadium will be carried out by German company Hightex. The main changes include an increase of almost 10,000 seats to accommodate a total of 60,000 spectators. The roof of Şükrü Saracoğlu Stadium will be raised by 3 metres and the exterior of the venue will be covered with carbon fibre. Improvements to the acoustics of the arena are also planned. Visualisations have been presented to show what the stadium will look like after the renovation.

Fenerbahçe finished last season in second place, losing only three points to local rival Galatasaray. The upcoming presidential election on June 8-9 could determine the future of the stadium upgrade project, which could be approved or rejected by the club's new board.

© Jiří Minka