Fenerbahce vs. Anadolu Efes: “We were surprised by their attitude in the EuroLeague vote”

The dilemma put to the vote of EuroLeague shareholders over the course of the event was both difficult and divisive. This was shown by the fact that the proposal not to include the matches with the Russian teams was won by just one vote on Monday, March 7th.

The day after the process was completed, Fenerbahce became the first EuroLeague team to publicly comment on the issue, lodging complaints and anger. Specifically, the Turkish federation spoke of a vote ended due to private interests and did not fail to mention the disagreement with Anantolou Efes.

All this because, along with Monaco, Fenerbahce have been defeated the most by the new order of things in the table, as so far they only counted wins (3/3) against CSKA Moscow, Zenit and Unics Kazan.

The announcement in detail:

“During the process, the federation pointed out to all other shareholders that ignoring the games that have taken place and have affected the course of the event so far goes against the natural dynamics of sport.

However, given the structure of the EuroLeague, thirteen (13) teams voted on Monday 7th March, with seven in favor of their own interests due to the ranking and a few others in favor of their own interests for reasons we cannot understand. This behavior led to a decision by 7 votes to 6 to “delete” all games played with Russian teams.

[…] Nonetheless, we believe that in such special situations, sensitive decisions should always be made in the fairest way for the event and not for personal gain.

Here we would like to testify that the disagreement with Anantolou Efes, the country’s other representative in the EuroLeague, on this sensitive issue surprised us. We leave the assessment of the situation to the discretion of the public and sports fans.

What we want to make clear is that despite the decision that has been made, our team will continue to fight in a highly dynamic manner and hope for the support of the people in the remaining six home games. That is, like it’s been happening all season to get what we deserve“.

Recall the image that the scoreboard has based on the result of the vote:

1. Barcelona 18-4 (3-1)
2. Real Madrid 16: 5 (4: 1)
3. Armani Milan 16-6 (2-2)
4. Olympiacos 15-7 (1-2)
5. Anantolo Efes 12-8 (2-3)
6. Bayern 12-10 (0-3)
7. Maccabi Tel Aviv 11-10 (1-3)
8. Monaco 10-13 (4-1)
9. Fenerbahce 9-13 (3-0)
10. Red Star 9-12 (2-3)
11. Alba Berlin 8-12 (2-3)
12. Villeurbanne 7-15 (2-2)
13. Basconia 7-15 (0-4)
14. Panathinaikos OPAP 6-16 (1-3)
15. Salgiris 6-16 (0-4)