As the dust continues to settle after the disgraceful brawl at Fenerbahce’s Sukru Saracoglu Stadium following Switzerland’s victory over Turkey in their explosive second-leg play-off last week, Swiss defender Stephane Grichting has spoken of the incident. The Auxerre player, who was hospitalised after being kicked in the stomach, was talking to the French sporting daily L’Equipe.

Grichting described the attack, “I was beaten up - punches, kicks. I was caught up by the hood of my coat and was kicked from behind. I did not even see who did it," he said. The ferocity of the assault caused considerable bleeding – Grichting complained that he was still in pain a week after the incident - and a catheter needed to be fitted during his treatment.

Grichting’s team-mate, Borussia Dortmund defender Philipp Degen, summed up the Swiss reaction to the violence. "It was hell. I have never experienced something as brutal as that before. Even the next day he had blood in his urine and terrible pains."

The trouble started at the end of the match when some of the 42,000 stunned Turks in the crowd, having seen their team’s elimination from FIFA World Cup Germany 2006 after winning the game 4-2 but losing on aggregate to away goals, reacted by throwing missiles onto the pitch. As the players ran to the tunnel for cover, a scuffle started.

TV pictures showed Turkey’s ex-Aston Villa defender Alpay Ozalan kicking VfB Stuttgart’s Swiss striker Marco Streller. The Swiss midfielder Benjamin Huggel was also pictured grabbing Alpay by the neck. Huggel has admitted he expects a FIFA ban following his involvement in another of the nasty confrontations during the fracas.

The Eintracht Frankfurt player kicked out at Turkey’s assistant coach, Mehmet Ozdilek as he was leaving the pitch. He claims to have been acting in defence of team-mate Valon Behrami when Ozdilek, according to Huggel, had put his leg out in an attempt to trip the Lazio player. Pictures from the night may yet vindicate his claims, but Huggel has already told Bild newspaper in Germany, “I am counting on a ban.”

The president of FIFA, Sepp Blatter, has promised an investigation into the incident, warning of strong action from the governing body of world soccer if any individual or either national association is found guilty of wrongdoing.

FIFA said a disciplinary ruling on violent incidents at the Turkey-Switzerland World Cup qualifier was unlikely to be ready until the new year.

"The final decision may well be taken early next year," a spokesman for world football's governing body said on Friday.

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