The Turkish club had to withdraw from the competition. He had no way out after the tragedy

On the night between Sunday and Monday, Turkey and Syria were hit by a powerful earthquake. The tremors were felt for more than a minute, and the epicenter was about 30 km from the two-million city of Gaziantep. The strength of the destructive element was estimated at 7.8 on the Richter scale. The media reports that nearly 20,000 people have died, and many people are still buried under the rubble of destroyed buildings. Among them is Christian Atsu, a Hatayspor player. The Turkish club’s headquarters is in Kahramanmaras, where great damage has been reported. Therefore, the authorities of Hatayspor made a radical decision.

Hatayspor withdrew from the Super Lig. It is not the end. The second club is also close to quitting the competition

The Super League was suspended almost immediately after the earthquake. On Thursday, Mehmet Buyukeksi, president of the Turkish Football Federation, announced that if nothing extraordinary happens, the players will return to the fields on March 3-4. It is already known that Hatayspor will not continue to participate in the competition.

– The authorities of Hatayspor sent us a special letter in which they informed about the withdrawal from further Super Liga competition in the 2022/23 season, “Buyukeksi reported. It turns out that Volkan Demirel’s team is not the only club that is considering withdrawing from the competition. – “We have received information that Gaziantep may also not play this season. However, we plan to continue with 17 teams, while maintaining the rights of these clubs. So far, we have not made a decision on the 2nd and 3rd divisions,” he continued.

Hatayspor is currently 14th in the table with 23 points. It is 31 points behind the leader, Galatasaray. Gazintep is in 10th place with 25 points.

The priority for Hatayspor is not only the reconstruction of the infrastructure after the earthquake, but also the search for Christian Atsu. Despite various conflicting media reports, the Ghanaian is still under the rubble. Taner Savut, sporting director of Hatayspor, is also missing. Earlier, Burak Oksuz, Bertug Yildirim and Kerim Alici were pulled out of the ruins. Fortunately, they were not seriously injured.

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Volkan Demirel, the coach of the Turkish team, asked for help in the search. The trainer posted a touching appeal on social media. – Please, I am asking for help from other countries. I want them to send us the necessary search equipment. There is little we can do on our own. Please, for God’s sake, people are dying here.