A large number of Brazilians view Turkish clubs as their second favorites because of the Brazilian players in those teams. Brazilian journalists order jerseys from Turkey; people in the Middle East, Balkans and Turkic republics talk a lot about Turkish teams -- however we fail to market our soccer. While the highlights of even the Portuguese league are aired by Eurosport, in spite of the fact that Portugal trails Turkey in the rankings, there is nothing whatsoever about Turkish Super League on foreign TV stations.

 This year renowned soccer stars Roberto Carlos, Lincoln and Cisse will be playing in the Super League. According to the data by transfermarkt.de, one of the most important statistics Web sites in Europe, the total value of 413 players in 15 teams in the 18-team Turkcell Super League is 616.71 million euros. This means that the Turkish league is the sixth most valuable league in Europe after Britain, Spain, Italy, Germany and France. In spite of this, Turkey gets only a small share from the global soccer industry. The failure of Turkish Soccer Federation (TFF) to market its brands effectively is cited as the most important reason for this pathetic situation.
Once a retirement spot for ordinary foreign players, the Turkish league now attracts greater attention because of the acquisition of top-notch players by the “Big Three.” With the coming of Roberto Carlos, Fenerbahçe now looks like a Brazilian team, also including his fellow countrymen Alex, Edu, Deivid and recently naturalized Wederson and Aurelio. Trainer Arthur Zico seals the Brazilian character of the team. Considering that Serbian player Kezman, Lugano from the Uruguay national team and Colin Kazım, the recently transferred player from the English Premier League, also play for Fenerbahçe, we could comfortably say that the Yellow Canaries have strong team that will be hard to beat.

Turkish teams favorite in Brazil

Foreign players coming to Fenerbahçe bring with them the attention of their countrymen. Zico, trainer of Fenerbahçe, the most expensive team of the Super League with total value of 88.90 million euros, notes with pride that he was welcomed in Brazil after they won the title in the 100th anniversary of the club. Recalling that Fenerbahçe is now the second team of some Brazilian fans, Zico adds: “The number of Fenerbahçe fans in my country has increased. I have seen so many of them that there are lots of people who are fans of Fenerbahçe in addition to their original favorite.” The Canaries responded to this growing interest by adding Portuguese to their official Web site.
Galatasaray surprised many when it acquired Schalke 04 star Lincoln. The Lions also purchased Swedish star Linderoth. Galatasaray is well known in Europe because of its Turkish stars, including legendary striker Hakan Şükür, star of the 2002 World Cup Hasan Şaş, strikers Necati Ateş and Ümit Karan. Beşiktaş, one of the “Big Three,” joined the bandwagon by acquiring Edouard Cisse from Paris Saint Germain and the Chilean star Rodrigo Tello from Sporting Lisbon. The Eagles also acquired Brazilian stars Ricardinho and Bobo last year. Noting that there were many of his friends who wanted to buy Bobo’s Beşiktaş jersey, Brazilian sports writer Murilo Eduardo Garavello says: “However we are unable to follow your league here. If your games are aired here, a huge market for Turkish teams will emerge in Brazil.”

Galatasaray failed to market UEFA Cup

Center for Strategic Research on Soccer Economy (FESAM) Coordinator Dr. Kutlu Melih says that institutionalization and promotion are weak in Turkish soccer. Underlining that Galatasaray, which won the UEFA title in 2000, was also the champion of the Islamic world, Melih adds: “Galatasaray victories were welcomed with joy in Islamic countries. There was then prospect for a large market for Galatasaray in Arab countries and Africa. However, they failed to benefit from it.” Asserting that the Turkish Soccer Federation was administered “amateurishly,” Melih further recalls: “There are lots of problems in our perception of soccer. There is a serious leadership problem in Turkish soccer. Club executives have no idea about how to talk. Above all, we do not know anything about soccer culture, and we do not want to learn either. With this weakness in institutionalization, Turkish soccer cannot find a good market abroad.”

TFF not competent in promoting Turkish soccer

“To become a global brand, sporting success is required first and then financial success will follow. A brand does not emerge in a short time. A certain amount of time is needed for this. There are speculations referring to the possibility that the Turkish Super League could be played in the Azerbaijan [Caucasus] and Balkan region. I think that would be wrong. Markets should be sought in competitive areas such as the Far East or predominantly Turkish cities in Europe. The TFF should reposition itself to address this matter. There should be a separate unit like Super League Co., just as is the case in France, Germany and Britain. The British Premier League is watched by 470 million people from 175 countries. Britain sells the broadcast rights of the Premier League for $1.2 billion. Turkish soccer does not get the share it deserves. The Super League can create a market of $1 billion.” (Tuğrul Akşar, soccer industry expert, sports writer)

We are ignoring a very important problem

“The failure of Turkish soccer to market itself abroad is an important problem. First of all, our league should be promoted abroad; our games should be aired live in the Far East, China, Japan. Germans are considering playing the games at 11 a.m. so that the Japanese TV stations can air them live. People in Europe watch Portuguese games on Eurosport. They cannot watch the Turkish league. Turkey should be able to export more players abroad. It is also imperative to increase the number of Turkish players in Germany. The current soccer federation fails to appreciate the urgency of the problem. They are not doing serious research on how to market Turkish soccer.” (Levent Bıçakcı, former TFF chairman)

http://www.sundayszaman.com/sunday/detaylar.do?load=detay&link=1495

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