'Razor-slashing' footballer banned for life in Turkey

A Turkish footballer was banned for life on Thursday after being accused of slashing rival players with a razor blade during a third division match last week.

The attacks which have shocked football-mad Turkey were carried out by Mansur Calar of Amedspor, based in the Kurdish-majority city of Diyarbakir, with four men lodging complaints after claiming they suffered cuts.

Video footage from the game purportedly shows the footballer holding what appears to be a razor blade, filmed when the teams lined up ahead of Saturday's match.

One of them, Ferhat Yazgan, posted pictures of his scarred neck on his Instagram account.

A Turkish court on Monday granted Calar's conditional release ahead of legal proceedings against him, but on Thursday the Turkish Football Federation banned him for four years, which is technically increased to a lifetime ban.

Calar's club Amed SF were ordered to play a game behind closed doors and the player was also fined 4,000 euros.

Sakaryaspor said there had been a "climate of war" during the game, while Amed SF denied there had been any slashing or intimidation.