Football: Emotional scenes as Besiktas fans throw toys onto field for Turkish earthquake victims

Turkish football fans have thrown thousands of toys onto the field to support the children displaced during this month's devastating earthquakes.

More than 50,000 have died across Turkey and Syria, after two earthquakes struck Gaziantep and Kahramanmaras within hours on February 6, with freezing winter temperatures taking their toll on about 1.5 million homeless people.

Besiktas player clears the pitch of toys before their Super Lig clash with Antalyaspor
Besiktas football fan prepares to throw a toy for earthquake victims. Photo credit: Getty Images

The shocks have been described as the worst in Turkey's long history of natural disasters throughout the centuries.

To support those affected, the Besiktas club distributed toys among the crowd for its Turkish Super Lig match against Antalyaspor at Istanbul.

At 4:17pm - the time of the first earthquake - fans tossed the toys onto the field, with players and security clearing the pitch, before the fixture could continue.

The disaster hit home to Turkish football fans, after the body of Ghanaian international Christian Atsu, who played for Hatayspor, was found under rubble at his Antakya. He had scored the winning goal against Kasimpasa the previous day, just his fourth appearance for the club.