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Trabzonspor in league match against Galatasaray, early February 2023
Photo:
IMAGO/Seskimphoto / IMAGO/Seskim Photo TR
After the devastating earthquake disaster in Turkey and Syria, the Turkish football club Trabzonspor wants to use its conference league game against FC Basel for a fundraiser.
The ticket proceeds will be donated to the survivors of the earthquake in Turkey, as the club announced.
Club President Ahmet Agaoglu says he hopes to sell around 39,000 tickets for Thursday's home game.
The money collected will then be transferred to the earthquake victims with the help of the civil protection authority Afad.
On Monday last week, an earthquake with a magnitude of 7.7 shook the Turkish-Syrian border area, followed hours later by a second severe earthquake with a magnitude of 7.6.
The Afad has so far registered more than 2,400 aftershocks.
In the meantime, the number of dead in the Turkish-Syrian border area has risen to more than 40,000.
After the earthquake disaster, all sporting events in Turkey were initially canceled.
According to club boss Agaoglu, the president of the Turkish Football Association TFF, Mehmet Büyükeksi, as well as the board members and almost all other club presidents want to be present at the game to demonstrate unity.
"This game is a Turkey game," he emphasized.
The sensitivity and delicacy shown by fans across the country is perhaps the best testament to that unity - which the country needs more than anything else.
What Turkey has seen and experienced is not easy to overcome.
The association also announced that toys should also be collected for children who survived the earthquake.
With this action, the children should be given some morality.
Therefore, all fans are asked to bring toys to the game against Basel.
This will then be collected in front of the stadium and sent to the disaster areas.
ara/dpa
