In an attempt to reduce violence, the Turkish Football Association made the decision this week to allow only women and children into stadiums after poor behavior from predominantly male fans. The matches were originally scheduled to play in front of empty stadiums when the idea to allow only women and children into the stadiums came about.
As it turns out, the environment was incredible despite reservations about how much energy the crowd would have. “Turkish football needs this,” Turkish Football Association deputy chairman Goksel Gumusdag told the Associated Press. Women’s soccer in Turkey remains on the rise, as pointed out by Tim Grainey on The Equalizer back in March.
Tuesday’s Fenerbahce crowd should only continue to inspire women to play. Check out video of the electric atmosphere as pointed out by Ryan Rosenblatt at SB Nation:
Turkey is currently ranked No. 63 in the world in the new world rankings which were released on Friday. The United States remains No. 1 and world champion Japan remains at No. 4 in the world.
Turkey lost 2-0 to Kazakhstan in Euro 2013 qualifying. Turkey is in last place in Group 2.
