Malta will be playing its first away match of the World Cup Group C qualifying round against Turkey at a neutral venue.
The FIFA Appeal Committee on Friday decided to uphold all sanctions taken by the FIFA Disciplinary Committee on 6 February and 7 February with respect to the incidents that occurred in connection with the 2006 FIFA World Cup preliminary competition match between Turkey and Switzerland in Istanbul on 16 November 2005.
Turkey won the game in Istanbul 4-2 but Switzerland advanced on away goals, sparking scuffles between players and coaching staff in the tunnel on the way to the locker room.
The FIFA Disciplinary Committee had discussed the incidents that occurred that match. Under the chairmanship of deputy chairman Salman Bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa (Bahrain), the committee, sitting as the body of first instance, passed the following decisions:
In the main proceedings against the Turkish Football Federation:
The Turkish Football Federation was ordered to play its next six official home matches behind closed doors in a neutral venue in another country affiliated to UEFA with a minimum distance of 500km to the Turkish border. The Turkish Football Federation is ordered to pay all organisational costs with regard to these six matches.
A fine in the amount of around Lm60,000, including procedural costs.
Turkey players Alpay Ozalan and Emre Belozoglu were each suspended for six official matches of his representative team. This suspension is carried over to the representative team's next official matches. He was also fined the sum of around Lm5,000.
Another Turkey player, Serkan Balci was suspended for two official matches of his representative team. This suspension is also carried over to the representative team's next official matches. He was also fined around Lm1,500.
Mehmet Ozdilek, Turkey, assistant coach, is banned from taking part in any football-related activity (administrative, sports or any other activity), within associations, confederations or FIFA for 12 months. He also received a fine of around Lm5,000.
Malta is in the same Group C alongside Turkey, Greece, Hungary, Norway, Moldova and Bosnia Herzegovina in the forthcoming European Championship qualifying round.
The decision means that the 6 September match in which Turkey were at home against Malta, will now have to be played at a neutral venue and behind closed doors.