Galatasaray will appeal against a UEFA decision to bar their supporters from their trip to Liverpool in the second leg of their Champions League last-16 tie this month.
The Super Lig leaders have been given a one-match ban from selling tickets to European away matches following incidents during their visit to Juventus on February 25.
The competition organisers have also fined Cimbom 40,000 euros (around £35,000).
Why have Galatasaray been punished by UEFA?
UEFA took the decision on separate counts of the throwing of objects, lighting of fireworks and crowd disturbances in Turin.
Around 400 ‘ultras’ – fans known for their fanatical support – lit torches and firecrackers at a meeting point to take transport to the stadium before the game, according to Ansa, which reported that the supporters also damaged shuttle buses.
The outlet said that about 50 of those fans broke through a gate to access the second tier at the stadium after being refused a name change on their tickets.
A firecracker was thrown from the away section towards the Curva Nord area of the home section, the outlet added, with a father and daughter injured by the resulting explosion and taken to hospital for checks.
Have Galatasaray fans been banned previously?
Following a Champions League group stage match against Manchester United at Old Trafford in October 2023, UEFA handed Galatasaray a one-match away fan ban – suspended for two years – and a fine of 51,500 euros (around £45,000).
Those punishments related to the same three counts, as well as acts of damage in the away end at Old Trafford, for which Galatasaray were ordered to pay United a settlement.
In April 2000, Leeds United banned Galatasaray fans from their UEFA Cup semi-final second leg after West Yorkshire Police said they could not guarantee the safety of visiting supporters. Two Leeds fans were stabbed to death while in Istanbul for the first leg.
Could Galatasaray fans attend the game at Liverpool?
Liverpool are likely to be vigilant of fans buying tickets for the home end after United carried out an investigation into how many Galatasaray supporters did so at Old Trafford in 2023.
The Manchester Evening News reported that the club found many had been purchased via bots and resold by touts or resale websites, while some bought hospitality packages.
“Clearly, having away fans in our home areas is not something we want at Old Trafford,” a United statement said at the time.
“We understand and acknowledge that some fans felt unsafe and concerned about potential trouble. The safety of our fans and our staff is always our number one priority.
“We pride ourselves on having an incredibly safe stadium to visit. While, thankfully, there were no reported injuries to our fans, we want to make sure that we address the issue, and have been working hard over the last 48 hours to review our CCTV, so we can understand how the situation arose and stop it from happening again.”
Have other clubs received away bans this season?
Among other clubs to have been sanctioned, Tottenham received a one-match ban on their away supporters in Europe, suspended for a year, after three fans were found to have directed Nazi salutes at Eintracht Frankfurt supporters during the Champions League game between the clubs in January.
Spurs, who gave the fans indefinite bans and called their behaviour “utterly abhorrent”, were fined 30,000 euros (around £26,000), as well as a separate punishment of 2,250 euros (almost £2,000) for the throwing of objects.
There were no away fans when Aston Villa hosted Maccabi Tel-Aviv during the league phase of the Europa League in November because Birmingham City Council and local police enforced a pre-emptive ban based on intelligence following violence at a game in Amsterdam earlier in 2024.
The game was categorised as high risk, although the intelligence and risk assessments carried out have not been made public.
Authorities found that the greatest risk of violence came from extremist fans of the Israeli club, the Guardian reported.
Frankfurt fans were not allowed to travel to Napoli and Ajax supporters were barred from visiting Marseille because of decisions by local authorities during this season’s league phase of the Champions League, according to BBC Sport, which reported criticisms of “public authorities” by Ronan Evain, the executive director of Football Supporters Europe.
Marseille will not be allowed to sell tickets for their next European away game because a suspended punishment from a 2024 UEFA decision was activated following incidents around their defeat at Brugge in their closing match in this season’s Champions League in January.
OM were fined 25,000 euros (around £22,000) and given an additional one-match away ticket ban, suspended for a probationary period of two years.
Their Stade Velodrome home was partially closed for their match against Newcastle following incidents during their game against Atalanta.
French authorities banned away fans from travelling to Lyon’s Ligue 1 match at Marseille on March 1. OM supporters were previously barred from going to Lyon in 2024 because of the risk of violence between supporters and law enforcement, the French Interior Ministry said at the time, via Reuters.
When is Liverpool vs Galatasaray?
The first leg of the tie takes place in Istanbul on Tuesday, followed by the return match eight days later.
Galatasaray reached the last 16 with a 7-5 aggregate win over Juve after extra time in their knockout phase play-off tie, having won the first leg 5-2 at home.
Liverpool qualified for the round of 16 automatically, finishing third in the league stage. The Reds lost 1-0 in Istanbul on September 30, when away fans were allowed to attend.
| Date | Venue | GMT start time | ET | PT | |
| First leg | Tue, March 10 | Istanbul | 17:45 | 13:45 | 10:45 |
| Second leg | Wed, March 18 | Liverpool | 20:00 | 16:00 | 13:00 |
