Berlin: While Turkiye face the Netherlands in a Euro 2024 quarter-final on Saturday, England aim to move a step closer to ending a 58-year wait to win a major tournament by beating Switzerland. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will attend the match at Berlin's Olympiastadion amidst a diplomatic row between his country and host nation Germany over a two-match ban handed to Turkiye defender Merih Demiral. The centre-back, who scored both Turkey's goals in a 2-1 win over Austria in the last 16 on Tuesday, has been suspended by UEFA for celebrating with a gesture associated with political group.
UEFA said in a statement it was banning Demiral "for violating the basic rules of decent conduct, for using sports events for manifestations of a non-sporting nature and for bringing the sport of football into disrepute". Turkiye will be roared on by tens of thousands of fans who have turned all of their matches, in an unexpected run to the last eight, into a mass of red and white in stadiums around the country. Germany is home to nearly three million people with Turkish roots.
Vincenzo Montella's men will try to ride that support to reach the semi-finals of a European Championship for just the second time. The Dutch are the favourites to make the last four for the first time since Euro 2004. Ronald Koeman's side disappointed in the group stage as they only qualified thanks to being one of the best third-placed teams.
But they hit their stride in the last 16 with a 3-0 win over Roma.