Vlahovic Faces Five-Game Ban in Turkey

The 52nd minute of the Fenerbahce-Besiktas derby. The ball strikes Milan Skrinjar’s arm at midfield, referee Halil Umut Meler waves play on, and that is where the chaos begins that, as it turned out, would not stay on the pitch. Dusan Vlahovic appeals for a stoppage. Skrinjar answers not with words but with his hand, grabbing him by the neck. The Besiktas forward returns the gesture, the two get in each other’s faces, and insults fly in Italian, a language they both know well from their days colliding in Serie A, he in Juventus colors, Skrinjar in Inter’s.

Meler cools things down with yellow cards for both. On the pitch, that closes the matter. Off it, the story was only beginning.

Turkey’s Football Federation Disciplinary Committee opened proceedings against Vlahovic on Monday, September 7, over his conduct in the match. The case cites Article 41 of the disciplinary code, and the punishment on the table is a suspension of two to five games. Skrinjar, the Fenerbahce defender, is on the same list and faces the same range of punishment. The committee has the right to review video assistant referee footage and match delegate reports regardless of what Meler decided on the pitch, so the yellow cards handed out during the game do not guarantee the story ends there.

Besiktas won the match itself, 2-1, and Vlahovic was the difference maker: his goal in the 73rd minute sank Fenerbahce and was already his fourth in his new colors. This outlet had already covered that win, a day before news of the proceedings broke. The result, however, took a back seat. According to reporting by Kurir, both clubs asked after the match for the opposing player to be sent off outright, not merely booked, which is what pushed the Turkish Football Federation to take up the case itself.

There is precedent for this kind of gesture in Turkish football, and it is not a comfortable one for Vlahovic. Raul Meireles received as many as 11 games of suspension for a similar gesture a few years back, though with additional charges attached: insulting the referee and spitting in his direction. Vlahovic’s case, based on everything reported in the Turkish press so far, does not carry that weight, so the five-game punishment is being floated as the upper limit, not the likely outcome.

This is not the first time Vlahovic and Skrinjar have clashed, and it probably will not be the last. Their rivalry traveled over from Italy, where they went head to head in derbies that decided the top of the Serie A table. Istanbul just gave them a new address for the same animosity, and the ball that struck Skrinjar’s arm, along with the referee’s decision to play on, was only the spark for something that, by all accounts, had been building for a while.

The Disciplinary Committee’s ruling comes today, Tuesday, September 8. For Besiktas, which showed with its win over its eternal rival that it knows how to handle a derby, losing its top scorer for two to five games would be a blow at the exact moment the team believes in itself the most. Fenerbahce, for its part, would lose the defender around whom it built its own form if Skrinjar is banned too, and the side that stands to benefit most from all of it is watching from Galatasaray, the next rival in the race for the top of the table.

If the committee sticks to its own precedent, both players should get off with something closer to two games than five, since neither the exchanged insults nor the grab by the neck reach the level that cost Meireles 11 matches. But Turkish football has been cracking down harder on exactly this kind of midfield incident in recent seasons, and that could be the factor that tips the decision. The answer comes before the day is out, and Besiktas plays its next league match this coming weekend, with or without Vlahovic in the lineup.