ISTANBUL - Two-time three cushion world champion Frédéric Caudron will play for a new strong team in Turkey this season. The Belgian, signed a contract today with Gaziantespor which, like FC Porto (in Portugal) is part of a Turkish football team in the super league in Turkey. The team is one of the main contenders for the European Cup with Frédéric Caudron, Tayfun Tasdemir, Murat Naci Coklu, Can Capak and Gökhan Salman.
Frédéric Caudron was the key player in the Dallinga team, that took the European Cup in Istanbul this year and also the Dutch and Belgian team title with Caudron, Dick Jaspers, Eddy Merckx and Jean Paul de Bruijn.
,,The transfer to this new team is a new challenge for me'', Caudron said after signing the contract in Turkey. ,,My first option was to play in the European Cup with Sluiskil, but it was financially not to realize. The new Turkish club is attractive to me and moreover, the players in the team are my friends.''
The Belgian multiple champion was unbeatable for many years in the European Cup with the famous Agipi team. When Jaspers and Merckx announced to leave Sluiskil, the current champion team lost already two of his main players. Caudron's transfer to Turkey, the defending champion in the European Cup final is certainly not one of the contenders for the title. The final will be played next year at FC Porto, the date is not yet known.
Gökhan Salman has announced the new team today: ,,We launch this team with big ambitions'', he said. ,,The first mission is to take a stab at the Turkish championship. The first two teams qualify for the European Cup.''
Caudron's transfer to Gaziantespor was a matter of negotiation. Salman: ,,We offered him a good contract and he really wanted to come.'' With Tayfun Tasdemir, the recent winner at the Vietnam World Cup, former European champion Murat Naci Coklu, Turkish former cup winner Can Capak and Gökhan Salman, who sparkled at the Porto World Cup, the team has a strong line-up on four positions.
The new Turkish star team with Frédéric Caudron, Tayfun Tasdemir, Gökhan Salman, Murat Naci Coklu and Can Capak.
The new top team is located in Gaziantep, a city in the middle of the country about 1.200 kilometers away from Istanbul. The competition for the Turkish title will come partly from team that probably shows up with Lütfi Cenet, Nick Polychronopoulos, Adnan Yüksel and Emrullah Basegmez.
The Turkish team competition will be played in one weekend, in which sixteen teams meet each other.