Acun Ilıcalı, owner of England’s Championship team Hull City, expressed confidence that both his club and Turkish football would benefit positively if Hull City ascends to the Premier League.
Speaking at Hull City’s preseason camp at the TFF Riva Hasan Doğan National Teams Camp and Training Facility, Ilıcalı highlighted the potential benefits of promotion to the Premier League. “I believe that if we reach the Premier League, it will also benefit Turkish football. If we attract one player to our team now, in the Premier League, five players will want to join us. We may not get them all, but I think Türkiye’s rising profile in Europe will also benefit us if we reach the Premier League. Bringing friends who want to play at a higher level will be an advantage for us. Experiencing and developing our country’s football power globally would be a wonderful thing. All we need to do is get promoted to the Premier League,” he said.
Ilıcalı also discussed his investments and goals related to football clubs, noting their withdrawal of investment from Ireland’s Shelbourne FC but continuing their partnership with Slovenia’s Maribor. “We don’t have a specific plan to increase the number of clubs, especially not through a fixed plan. The combination of Hull City and Maribor works well for us. Initially, we considered a lower-level team, but when we sent Hull City’s players to lower-level clubs, they didn’t perform as expected in the Irish League. So, we’ve decided to continue with Maribor, a more balanced team. We believe this will strengthen us further, hopefully securing a spot in the UEFA Europa League group stage. Better connections between equal teams are what we aim for,” he said.
Highlighting the quality of players transferred from Türkiye, Ilıcalı emphasized, “All the players we’ve brought from Türkiye are valuable. Doğukan Sinik had a long injury, which can happen, of course. He will represent us beautifully when he returns. It’s a great joy to bring players from Türkiye. I’m proud that our reputation in England is high. It’s a great city with wonderful people. Everyone in England understands football. The biggest difference between us and them is that there’s no mindless rush when you enter social media. When I go on social media in England, the positive comments about Turks always make me happy.”
Regarding rumors of player transfers between Fenerbahçe and Hull City since becoming vice president at Fenerbahçe, Ilıcalı dismissed them as baseless. “I’ve faced such absurd claims all my life, and I’ve laughed them off. Some players we brought from Türkiye have gone elsewhere. Ozan Tufan transferred to Türkiye. We brought Abdülkadir Ömür, who’s doing great work. I don’t take players who didn’t work in Türkiye; I take players with potential who’ve had bad days. Trying to write a story because one or two didn’t succeed is funny. But that’s part of football,” he concluded.
Ilıcalı also expressed his excitement about Hull City’s friendly match against Fenerbahçe, saying, “It’s a great feeling for me. I was born a Fenerbahçe fan, and now I own Hull City. It’s like a dream come true for me. It will be a very meaningful match from my perspective.”
