Fenerbahce president on Efes' vote: 'I didn't know they hate us that much' / News - Basketnews.com

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Representatives of Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul and Anadolu Efes Istanbul are continuing to exchange words regarding the latest EuroLeague clubs' voting on the classification system.

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According to Sports Digitale, this time, the president of Fenerbahce Beko, Ali Koc, went public with the following statements.

"I called Anadolu Efes president Tuncay Ozilhan to specifically ask for a vote against the 1st option (scrapping results vs Russian teams). Despite that, they voted against us. I did not know they hate us that much. They wronged us big time," commented Koc.

"There are 13 EuroLeague shareholders, while two of them are from Turkey. They (Efes) made me very surprised. This is not the first time, though. It happened for the 3rd time. But you will be surprised too. I will write a letter to Tuncay Ozilhan that I will share with the public as well. I thought I knew him well. Apparently, I was mistaken," Fenerbahce president added.

13 clubs' representatives, who participated in the voting process, decided to go with the classification system, where all of the results against Russian teams are canceled, scrapping both wins or losses against CSKA Moscow, UNICS Kazan, and Zenit Saint Petersburg.

The outcome was decided by only one vote, resulting in 7-6.

The decision caused some controversy between the Turkish clubs. For Fenerbahce, the alternative classification format would have been much more beneficial, as teams' rankings would have been decided on the basis of each squad's winning percentage.

They strongly favored the latter variant, because Fener had a perfect 3-0 run against Russian squads.

Anadolu Efes were against the alternative ranking system, while the reigning EuroLeague champs voted in favor of the decision that prevailed in the end.

After the published voting results, Fenerbahce released the official announcement, expressing their strong disagreement with the decision and also questioning the stance of their fellow Turkish team, Anadolu Efes.

For their part, Efes launched Ergin Ataman's statement, where the head coach explained the decision to vote unfavorably for the other Turkish squad.

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