Footballer sacked for kicking opponent in the head after being sent-off during Turkish non-league match

A Turkish non-league match will be remembered for all the wrong reasons after a Sanayispor player reacted to being sent-off by committing a vicious and brutal attack

Sanayispor player Mehmet Degirmenci kicks Kayhan Karakas of Dallicaspor in the head (Liveleak)

A Turkish non-league match will be remembered for one of the most sickening sights on a football pitch after a player was sent-off for deliberately kicking an opponent – and reacted by aiming a second kick to his head as he lay on the floor.

The despicable act, committed by Sanayispor player Mehmet Degirmenci, led to an unsurprisingly fierce response from their opposition, Dallicaspor, who promptly chased him down the tunnel as he fled for safety.

Degirmenci and Dallicaspor player Kayhan Karakas were competing for the ball when the former took exception to a shoulder barge, and decided that the best form of response was to take a swipe at Karakas’s legs as he ran towards the ball.

Mehmet Degirmenci is given a straight red card for the swipe (Liveleak)

Sanayispor player Mehmet Degirmenci kicks Kayhan Karakas of Dallicaspor in the head (Liveleak)


 Dallicaspor players confront Degirmenci, who runs off the pitch and down the tunnel
 (Liveleak)

The referee instantly showed Degirmenci a red card for the angry response, but, infuriated by his dismissal, Degirmenci turned around and kicked a prone Karakas in the head as hard as he could.

The match, which was taking place in the Nazilli district of Turkey’s western province on Sunday, quickly descended into chaos as Dallicaspor players tried to attack Degirmenci for his vile act, and he immediately tried to flee the scene and disappear down the players’ tunnel.

Watch the video below (some viewers may find the footage disturbing)...

Karakas needed nine stiches in his lip after the match but miraculously was able to play on afterwards before being substituted and taken for treatment. He told local reporters: “I continued playing for a while as I was playing in a team that we have established with great efforts. I did not want to leave my friends alone.

“Thank God that kick came near my jaw. If it had hit me directly in the face, it could have broken my nose, made me blind or broken my neck.”

In what is unarguably the right course of action, Sanayispor have sacked Degirmenci and apologised to Karakas in a statement released by the club’s president.

“To Dallicaspor on behalf of the management, we apologise to our brothers Kayhan and opponents,” he said: “Has been cut in relation to our football club.”