Backed by the government, Turkey’s banking sector and soccer federation have launched an effort to salvage the soccer industry, which, like many other sectors, is in a financial bottleneck. Many fans in the soccer-mad country may rejoice at the news, but the rescue operation is likely to result in tighter government control over soccer clubs, which are not exempt from the country’s political and cultural wars. 

On Jan. 7, Huseyin Aydin, the head of the Banks Association of Turkey (TBB), and Yildirim Demiroren, the chief of the Turkish Football Federation (TFF), appeared together on a television program, in which they spoke about a debt restructuring plan for soccer clubs. Referring to Turkey’s economic downturn, Aydin said, “We have been restructuring [the debts of] companies due to serious exchange-rate risks, interest-rate risks and economic contraction over the past six months. We’ve restructured companies exposed to exchange-rate risks and interest-rate risks that operate decently, face temporary disruptions in cash flow and can survive. We are doing the same with the soccer industry.”

As a result of the economic turmoil in the past six months, Turkey’s four big clubs — Besiktas, Galatasaray, Fenerbahce and Trabzonspor, which dominate 75-80% of the sector — faced a mounting risk of penalties by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), including bans from tournaments.

But, as a popular saying goes, soccer is never just soccer. Given the popularity of soccer in Europe, which is home to many of Turkey’s lenders, the prospect of sensational incidents involving Turkish soccer threatened to hit further the country’s image and risk premium, which has already decoupled from those of other countries, hovering around 360 basis points, and further scare off foreign investors from Turkey.