10 000 000 Lira European Football Championship, Mule

A mule in the modern commemorative series is unusual enough to warrant attention. This piece pairs dies that were not intended to be used together — the product of an error at the Turkish State Mint during production of the 2001 UEFA European Championship commemorative program. Turkey hosted no games in Euro 2000 and did not qualify for Euro 2004, making the political motivation behind the issue somewhat aspirational. Whether the mule resulted from a deliberate trial or a genuine production error has not been definitively established in the literature.