CFA to meet with Lefke football clubTurkish Cypriot daily Halkin Sesi (10.06.11) reports that the occupied Lefke football club received a positive respond by the Cyprus Football Association (CFA) in their request for a meeting with the CFA President. Accordingly, CFA chairman Costakis Koutsokoumnis, and Lekfe chairman Yiltac Mukellef, will meet on the morning of June 16 at the CFA’s building.

The TURKISH Cypriot football team Lefke  applied for membership of the Cyprus Football Association (CFA) as a result of  the football authorities in the north not lifting a 13-match ban on the team for crowd trouble.

Currently there are no Turkish Cypriot teams in CFA, but Lefke Football Club says it will apply to the association after  falling out with the ‘Turkish Cypriot Football Federation’ (KTFF).

Lefke was initially given a 10-match ban and an approximately €6,000 fine for violence that broke out at the end of a final match against Nicosia team Cetinkaya on April 20. It appealed to the KTFF to have the ban and the fines reduced. However, rather than reducing the penalty, the KTFF decided to double the financial penalty and increase the match ban to 13.

According to reports, Lefke was winning the final on April 20 by one goal to nil, when seconds before the final whistle a penalty was awarded to Cetinkaya. Lefke fans reacted by invading the pitch and the match was abandoned. The disciplinary committee of KKFF later handed the match to Cetinkaya and recorded the result as 3-0 to the Nicosia team.

Oner said there was little hope that the Turkish Cypriot courts would support the team’s request, adding that KTFF officials had already warned the team that if it went to court over the issue, it would be thrown out of the Turkish Cypriot league.

“We have also been told the if we apply to the Greek Cypriot CFA, we will be in breach of the TRNC’s constitution, which will also result in us being thrown out of the Turkish Cypriot league,” Oner said.