Fenerbahçe presidential candidate Aziz Yıldırım has issued a stark message to the club’s supporters, insisting that the Yellow Canaries must deliver the Süper Lig title in the 2026-27 season or face what he described as a serious turning point in their future.

Speaking at an event organized by the Maltepe Fenerbahçe Supporters Association at the Maltepe Municipality Republic Cultural Center, Yıldırım drew strong attention from supporters as he returned to a familiar political stage ahead of the extraordinary electoral congress scheduled for June 6-7.

Decisive election

Yıldırım said he was pleased to reunite with longtime associates and stressed that the club’s most urgent need was unity. He argued that internal division has weakened Fenerbahçe and insisted that cohesion across the fan base, management, and sporting structure is essential to restoring sustained success.

Responding to references describing him as a “legendary president,” Yıldırım pushed back on personal glorification, stating that only two true legends in history were Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and Fatih Sultan Mehmet, adding that his own role is simply to serve and execute duties when called upon.

“We are not here for titles, but for action”

Yıldırım dismissed social media narratives about his intentions, saying much of what circulates online is inaccurate.

He rejected suggestions that he seeks symbolic roles, insisting he remains focused on practical results and long-term rebuilding.

Recalling his two decades in charge of the club, he said he has experienced both success and failure and argued that his return is not motivated by personal gain.

He referenced earlier election cycles, including 2024, saying he believed conditions were suitable for success then and still believes a well-organized structure could deliver results today.

He underlined a central warning: Fenerbahçe must become champions in 2026-27, or risk deeper instability. He added that the club has the capacity to achieve it, pointing to its historical strength and mass support.

Sporting pressure and unfinished business

Yıldırım questioned past near misses, asking how the club could accumulate 99 points without winning the title, and highlighted multiple second-place finishes in recent years. For him, consistency without trophies is not progress.

He also referenced the importance of remembering the July 3, 2011, process, describing it as a defining moment in the club’s modern history.

Citing mass public demonstrations at the time, he said the episode proved the scale of Fenerbahçe’s community power and warned against weakening that unity.

While acknowledging his long absence from office since 2018, Yıldırım said he respects past electoral outcomes but believes the club has struggled in the years since. He argued that fragmentation within the community has prevented success and repeated his call for discipline, solidarity, and focus.

New management plan

Yıldırım also outlined plans for a new administrative structure, saying a fresh team formed over time will be introduced publicly on May 22.

He said this group is prepared for long-term service and aims to stabilize the club across sporting and institutional levels.

He stressed that the campaign will not revolve around financial promises, but on execution, recruitment, and structural discipline. He pledged transparency, urged supporters to ignore online misinformation, and called for trust to be placed in official statements only.

Closing his remarks, Yıldırım said his campaign is built on conviction rather than ambition, insisting he is determined to stop what he described as the club’s “decline” and restore competitive strength.

Göktürk: “We will end the title drought”

Barış Göktürk, who withdrew his own candidacy to support Yıldırım, also addressed the gathering.

He highlighted Fenerbahçe’s 12-year league title drought and pointed to past successes under Yıldırım’s leadership, including domestic championships and deep runs in European competitions.

Göktürk argued that the club’s strongest periods coincided with Yıldırım’s tenure and expressed confidence that the team can break the current title streak, saying the 120th anniversary season could mark a return to glory under his leadership.

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Born in Adana and revered across Türkiye as “The Emperor,” Fatih Terim is set to receive one of the country’s most ambitious football tributes after Sarıçam Mayor Bilal Uludağ confirmed that a major sports museum and multi-purpose complex bearing Terim’s name will be built in Adana under the direction of Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli.

The project, officially titled the Fatih Terim Sports Museum, will rise in Sarıçam as a sweeping cultural and sporting landmark dedicated to preserving the life and legacy of one of Turkish football’s most influential figures. Construction is expected to begin in September, with the complex targeted to open in 2027.

Speaking about the initiative, Uludağ described the museum as both a symbol of loyalty and a long-term investment in Turkish sporting culture, saying the project was designed to ensure Terim’s journey and achievements are passed on to future generations.

Few figures have shaped Turkish football as profoundly as Terim. Born and raised in Adana, he began his football journey with Adana Demirspor before evolving into a commanding defender and later one of the most decorated managers in Turkish football history.

His managerial legacy became inseparable from Galatasaray, where he built dynasties, captured eight Süper Lig titles and led the Istanbul giants to sustained domestic and European success.

Beyond silverware, Terim became a defining symbol of Turkish football culture through his fiery touchline presence, emotional leadership style and ability to develop generations of players and coaches.

His influence stretched far beyond club football during multiple spells with the Turkish national team, where he oversaw some of the country’s most memorable international campaigns.

The new complex aims to capture every layer of that legacy.

Designed as far more than a traditional museum, the venue will combine football history with active sporting infrastructure.

Alongside the museum itself, the site will include a sports park, congress center and indoor sports halls capable of hosting 37 separate sporting disciplines, transforming the area into a year-round sporting and cultural destination.

Visitors entering the museum will immediately be immersed in a football-inspired atmosphere.

The entrance has been designed to resemble the tunnel entrances of professional stadiums, allowing fans to experience the sensation of “walking onto the pitch” from the moment they step inside.

At the heart of the museum will stand three giant domes inspired by the shape of a football, with each section representing a distinct phase of Terim’s life.

The first dome will focus on Terim’s roots in Adana and the formative years that shaped his football identity.

The section is expected to feature memorabilia from his youth, early playing career and the local football culture that fueled his rise from neighborhood pitches to the national stage.

Personal belongings, archival material and symbolic objects tied to his early life will help trace the beginning of a career that later transformed Turkish football.

The second dome will center on Terim the manager, chronicling the era that elevated him into a national icon.

His championship-winning reigns with Galatasaray, his achievements in European competitions and his time leading the Turkish national team will form the core of the exhibition.

The section is expected to showcase trophies, match memorabilia, tactical archives and visual recreations of defining moments that cemented his “Emperor” status among supporters.

The third dome will shift the focus away from football and present a more personal portrait of Terim.

Visitors will be introduced to his family life, personal philosophy and the values that shaped him away from stadium lights and media attention.

Organizers hope the section will reveal the human side of a figure often associated with intensity, discipline and relentless ambition.

Uludağ said the project represents a bridge between generations, ensuring younger visitors can understand how a footballer from Adana became one of the most recognizable sporting figures in Turkish history.

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Ronda Rousey removes a framed newspaper from the wall and smiles as she reads headlines celebrating a dominant victory over Gina Carano, a fight that has yet to take place.

Later that week, Rousey and her team stage a full dress rehearsal at her temporary training base in Las Vegas for her MMA comeback. Dressed in fight-night gear, she moves through her warmup before simulating a full cage walk with loud music and flashing lights, an elaborate visualization drill designed to prepare her 39-year-old body and migraine-prone mind for fight night.

“It just makes everything really special and fun,” Rousey told The Associated Press (AP). “It’s so nice that everything is considered.”

The mental work is part of a broader overhaul of her training as she prepares to face fellow MMA pioneer Gina Carano on Saturday night at Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California.

Nearly a decade after she left the sport at the peak of her fame and what she has described as the lowest point of her personal happiness in MMA, Rousey now has a cadre of top-tier coaches and support staff, a world-class training setup and full mental support for her return.

That is notable because Rousey became arguably the most famous athlete in women’s combat sports history despite having a fraction of the coaching help and outside-the-cage structure given to many top fighters.

Rousey previously trained out of a storefront fight club in Glendale, California, with Edmond Tarverdyan, a coach to whom she remained intractably loyal while the sport questioned his knowledge and suitability, to the point where Rousey’s mother, AnnMaria De Mars, publicly called him an idiot.

When asked how she looks back on her years with Tarverdyan, Rousey said: “We accomplished a lot, but I think we went as far as we could together.”

Many years later, Rousey has experienced what is possible outside those self-imposed boundaries, and she hopes to show it against Carano.

When Rousey began to explore the possibility of an MMA return last year, her husband, former UFC heavyweight Travis Browne, encouraged her to team up with his longtime trainer, Ricky Lundell. Rousey initially did not like Lundell in their first encounters, but the enthusiastic coach quickly won her over.

When they got to work, Rousey recognized everything she did not have in her first run in the sport.

She is receiving innovative coaching from a team led by Lundell, the accomplished grappler and jiu-jitsu athlete who has coached Jon Jones and Frank Mir. The upgrades in Rousey’s physical training setup are also significant, with access to a modern array of machines, sparring partners and recovery equipment. Lundell even converted his garage to install a sauna, a five-person cold tub and a hyperbaric chamber.

Lundell and his team provide data she had never seen before, including written debriefs of every training session. They hold regular video calls to analyze her progress. She says she now understands more about her strengths and weaknesses than ever before.

“He always keeps me in a great mind space,” Rousey said. “He keeps it very positive while still challenging me and giving me what I need. I’ve never seen a coach that’s so organized. A lot of training camps are very disjointed, and there’s a lot of egos pushing against each other. Ricky is really great at team building and keeping everybody on the same page and coordinated.”

The fake newspaper, which is changed for each of her training trips to Las Vegas from her family farm in Riverside County, California, is a motivational device. It is also a positive affirmation of Rousey’s work.

Most importantly, it represents the kind of structured support she says she rarely had when she felt alone and overwhelmed and fought from darker mental places.

“It takes so much off my shoulders that was on me before,” Rousey said. “It just makes everything as easy and enjoyable as possible.”

When Rousey lost her final two UFC fights and realized she needed to prioritize her health, including her increasing susceptibility to concussions, she left the spotlight of the cage for acting and professional wrestling, followed by marriage and children.

“I had to allow my body to rest and heal,” Rousey said.

Rousey spent years away from competition but not away from her sport.

She says she found a sense of mental peace and maturity that deepened her connection to martial arts, which has been central to her life since her mother taught her judo three decades earlier. She still keeps her skills sharp with occasional workouts, though she describes them as secondary to overall fitness and a healthier mental approach.

“As a martial artist, I’m not just memorizing moves,” Rousey said. “I’m learning concepts and philosophy, and those things never go away or change. You still develop them over time. If anything, they get more solidified into what you actually are, instead of superfluous little tricks that take up bandwidth when you’re training for a fight.”

Rousey recalled a conversation with filmmaker Taika Waititi in which he described his screenwriting process: He writes a script, sets it aside, then writes it again from memory, keeping only what he remembers most clearly.

“That’s how I think of martial arts,” Rousey said. “The core of what matters, the core of the philosophy, is what always sticks. That’s always in there.”

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Real Madrid president Florentino Perez delivered a fiery and deeply divisive defense of his leadership on Tuesday, refusing to resign after one of the club’s most turbulent seasons in recent memory while lashing out at critics, journalists, referees and rivals during an extraordinary press conference that lasted more than an hour.

The 79-year-old president, who has overseen one of the most successful eras in the history of Real Madrid, called an emergency media appearance at the club’s Valdebebas training complex amid growing unrest following a trophyless campaign that exposed fractures across the squad, coaching staff and boardroom.

Instead of offering a detailed roadmap for rebuilding the side after a disastrous 2025-26 season, Perez used much of the session to defend his legacy, attack the media and reject mounting speculation that his time at the helm could be nearing an end.

“I am not going to resign,” Perez declared at the outset, dismissing rumors of his departure before announcing snap presidential elections years ahead of schedule.

The move came just days after arch-rivals Barcelona sealed the La Liga title with a 2-0 Clasico victory over Madrid, a result that symbolized a painful campaign in which the Spanish giants fell far below expectations domestically and in Europe.

Madrid finished second in La Liga and exited the Champions League after a quarterfinal defeat to FC Bayern Munich.

Their struggles were compounded by dressing-room tensions, managerial upheaval and public frustration from supporters who watched a star-studded squad unravel.

Perez, however, showed little appetite for discussing footballing failures in depth.

“I’m not here to talk about sporting matters,” he repeatedly told reporters when questioned about coaches, transfers or internal conflicts.

The president instead launched into lengthy attacks on journalists and media outlets he accused of orchestrating campaigns against him and the club.

He singled out several reporters by name, accused sections of the press of spreading “fake news,” and portrayed himself as the target of coordinated hostility from figures linked to rival clubs and institutions.

He also revived longstanding grievances against referees, La Liga and the ongoing Negreira scandal involving alleged payments made by Barcelona to a former refereeing official.

Perez described the case as “the biggest corruption scandal in football history” and claimed Madrid had been denied titles and points over the years.

At one point, Perez insisted his administration should have won “14 league titles” rather than seven since his return to power in 2009, suggesting refereeing decisions had repeatedly cost Madrid success.

The combative tone of the appearance stunned many observers, particularly as the president largely sidestepped criticism of decisions made under his own leadership.

Much of Madrid’s instability this season stemmed from issues tied directly to Perez’s sporting project.

The club’s heavy reliance on superstar recruitment, highlighted by the arrival of Kylian Mbappe, reportedly increased player influence inside the dressing room and contributed to tensions with coaching staff.

Former coach Xabi Alonso lasted only months before leaving amid reports of disagreements with senior players and the board, while interim boss Álvaro Arbeloa struggled to steady the team.

Rumors linking Jose Mourinho with a dramatic return intensified before the press conference, although Perez refused to engage with speculation.

“We are not at that stage,” he said when asked about Mourinho.

Off the field, Madrid’s season spiraled further with reports of dressing-room altercations and player unrest.

Midfielder Federico Valverde was reportedly hospitalized following an altercation involving teammate Aurelien Tchouameni, while other incidents involving senior players fueled concerns over discipline and squad harmony.

Supporters also turned on several stars during the campaign. Both Vinicius Junior and Mbappe were booed at the Santiago Bernabeu as frustration mounted over poor performances and a perceived lack of cohesion.

Yet Perez framed the criticism directed at him as unfair given his record at the club.

Under his leadership, Madrid have won 37 football titles and seven Champions League crowns across two presidential spells, transforming the club into a commercial powerhouse while modernizing the Bernabeu and expanding global revenues.

“Why do they want to get rid of me?” Perez asked during the press conference. “Let them stand for election.”

Backlash

The defiant appearance triggered immediate backlash across Spain.

Former Madrid president Ramon Calderon reportedly described Perez’s behavior as “grotesque” and “dictatorial,” while critics accused the veteran president of refusing to accept responsibility for the club’s decline this season.

Analysts and supporters were equally baffled by the lack of concrete solutions regarding the team’s future, especially with Madrid facing a crucial summer that could define the next phase of the club’s modern era.

Questions remain over the managerial position, squad balance and whether Perez’s model of assembling superstar talent can still guarantee stability and sustained success in an increasingly demanding football landscape.

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After the Los Angeles Lakers were defeated by the Oklahoma City Thunder in the second round of the playoffs, LeBron James enters an offseason defined by uncertainty, with the NBA icon weighing whether to remain in Los Angeles, join another team or consider retirement.

With his 23rd NBA season complete, the league’s all-time leading scorer faces one of the biggest decisions of his career.

Moments after the Lakers’ 115-110 defeat in Monday’s Western Conference semifinal series, the 41-year-old said he was not ready to decide his future.

“I don’t know what the future holds for me, obviously,” the 22-time All-Star told reporters. James added that he plans to “recalibrate” with his family and spend time with them before making any decision about the next step in his career.

Numbers have been declining

As James left the floor Monday after posting 24 points and a game-high 12 rebounds, some wondered whether it was his last appearance in the NBA.

At 41, it is no surprise James is no longer producing at the level he once did, averaging 20.9 points per game this season while playing a supporting role behind Luka Dončić and Austin Reaves. His scoring output has declined since the 2021-22 season, when he averaged 30.3 points per game.

James, who owns the longest career in NBA history, said he has “always been in love with the process” of playing basketball, from showing up to morning practices to “giving everything I got.”

The native of Akron, Ohio, was selected first overall in the 2003 NBA Draft by the Cleveland Cavaliers and steadily rose to stardom, earning MVP honors in 2009 and 2010.

He took his talents to the Miami Heat in 2010, winning back-to-back championships in 2012 and 2013 before returning to the Cavaliers in 2014.

In 2016, he led Cleveland to a championship, ending the city’s 52-year professional sports title drought.

He left the Cavaliers for a second time in 2018 to join the Lakers, where he won a fourth title in 2020.

Return to L.A. still an option

James could re-sign with the Lakers, though head coach JJ Redick cautioned that a decision would likely come in the next two months.

“I haven’t even thought about that,” Redick said postgame. “We’ll deal with the offseason in the offseason, which is the next two months.”

It is hard to imagine a team that would not welcome the chance to add James, but any suitor would need to give him a compelling reason to leave. Widely considered one of the greatest players of all time, with 43,440 career points, he will likely want to finish his career in contention.

His eldest son, Lakers guard Bronny James, said he has “no clue” about his father’s plans.

“He looks like he can play another however many years, but he’s been in the league longer than he’s been out of it,” said the 21-year-old. “It’s insane. I think he should think about it, and whatever he feels happy with, do that.”

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The Turkish Football Federation’s (TFF) legal board has referred 10 Süper Lig clubs and several club officials to the Professional Football Disciplinary Board (PFDK) following a fiery weekend of league action marked by crowd trouble, offensive chants and a string of disciplinary flashpoints across Türkiye’s top flight.

The most serious cases emerged from Gençlerbirliği’s heated clash against Kasımpaşa S.K., where both clubs and multiple officials were swept into disciplinary proceedings after a stormy encounter in Ankara.

Gençlerbirliği S.K. were referred over allegations of irregular spectator entry under Article 49 of the Football Disciplinary Regulations, while several club officials also landed in trouble for breaching accreditation and competition directives.

Club executive Ali Ekber Düzgün was sent to the PFDK with a provisional suspension for alleged unsporting conduct, while officials Ümit Utaş, Hüseyin Şen, Hakan Acar and Mehmet Doğru were all cited for actions deemed contrary to federation regulations.

Recep Baylan was also referred with precautionary measures attached over violations linked to Süper Lig competition statutes.

Kasımpaşa’s disciplinary file proved equally extensive. The Istanbul side were charged with collective unsporting conduct after 10 of their players received yellow cards during the match, an incident that underlined the tense atmosphere surrounding the contest.

Kasımpaşa executive Ceyhun Kazancı faces multiple allegations, including breaching directives, unsporting behavior, insults and threats, with the federation imposing a provisional suspension pending the disciplinary process.

Head coach Emre Belözoğlu was also referred for alleged unsporting conduct, alongside team masseur Rahman Karaağaç.

League leaders Galatasaray S.K. were referred after their match against Antalyaspor over offensive chanting, crowd disturbances and an alleged breach of sporting equipment regulations.

Rivals Beşiktaş J.K. were cited for offensive chants following their high-profile showdown with Trabzonspor, while Fenerbahçe S.K. were referred over both crowd misconduct and offensive supporter behavior during their trip to Konyaspor.

Elsewhere, Samsunspor, Kocaelispor, Göztepe S.K., Eyüpspor, Çaykur Rizespor and Kayserispor were all referred to the PFDK over offensive and abusive chanting by supporters during weekend fixtures.

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