Football: Besiktas to elect new chairman in October

By Emre Asikci

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's Besiktas will elect a new chairman in October after the club's current chair Fikret Orman announced his resignation early this week.

"The management of Besiktas made a decision to hold an extraordinary general assembly in today's meeting," the club said in a statement on Thursday.

According to the club's website, the election will be held on Oct. 13. at 10.30 local time (0730GMT) at the BJK Akatlar Sport Dome.

It also said if majority of the members does not attend the first meeting, the second and last meeting will be held on Oct. 20. This will be final meeting, irrespective of number of members.

In addition, Besiktas said that outgoing Chairman Orman will continue to preside Besiktas and he will decide whether to contest or not.

On Tuesday, Fikret Orman decided to step down, claiming responsibility for poor results this season. He added that "there is a need for fresh blood in the club."

Orman, 51, has been the chairman of Besiktas since 2012.

In Orman's era the team's home ground, the construction of Vodafone Park was completed.

Inaugurated in April 2016, the Vodafone Park has 42,000 seats.

Meanwhile, Besiktas won back-to-back Turkish Super Lig titles in 2016 and 2017.

In 2017-2018 football season, Besiktas qualified for the UEFA Champions League Round of 16, but were eliminated by German powerhouse Bayern Munich.