UEFA has suspended Turkish national team player Merih Demiral for two matches.
The Turkish defender, who scored a brace in the winning match of the 1/8 finals of Euro 2024 against Austria, will now not be able to help his team in the quarterfinals against the Netherlands, and also, if successful, in the semifinals. The UEFA press service announced the decision to disqualify Demiral.
The reason for the decision was the gesture the football player showed while celebrating one of his team’s goals. The «bozkurt» sign of the «Grey Wolves» shown by the football player is considered a gesture of nationalists. The symbol is banned in a number of European countries. The Turks themselves consider it a historical and cultural symbol. In Germany, where the championship is taking place, the sign is under the supervision of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution and is perceived ambiguously.
At the same time, the Turkish Football Federation said that the two-match suspension of the national team defender Merih Demiral is untrue. «The news published under the headline «Merih Demiral suspended by UEFA for two matches» does not correspond to reality. We have time until tomorrow morning to defend this case,» their statement said.
26-year-old Demiral became the first Turkish football player to score a brace at the Euro, and the author of the fastest goal scored in the playoffs of the European Championships.
