This is a scandal that gets bigger every day. An Istanbul court on Monday ordered the temporary detention of six Turkish referees suspected of being involved in a massive betting affair, as the Turkish Football Federation widened its investigation to more than 1,000 players.
A judge also decided to jail the president of Eyüpspor, a Turkish first division club, as part of the same investigation.
Eleven referees detained since Friday were released under judicial supervision on Monday by Türkiye’s justice system, which is investigating allegations of match-fixing.
The president of a first division club was jailed
The six referees sent into detention worked as assistant referees in the third and fourth divisions, according to the Turkish Football Federation (TFF) website.
At the same time, the TFF on Monday evening announced the summons to the disciplinary board of 1,024 footballers from the country who were accused of betting on matches despite the sanctions imposed on them.
The country’s third and fourth division championships, which see more than 900 players involved, were suspended for two weeks, said the TFF, which plans to hold an extraordinary meeting on Tuesday.
Türkiye Futbol Federasyonu Yönetim Kurulu’nun TFF 2. Lig and TFF 3. Lig’in iki hafta kaydırılması kararı doğrultusunda, ilk devrenin sonuna saat oynanacak olan haftalar için belirlenen müsabaka takvimi değişti.
Proceed to the next step to run the müsabaka daha program…
— TFF (@TFF_Org) November 10, 2025
Twenty-seven of the players suspected of placing bets played in the first division, including Turkish international Eren Elmali, a Galatasaray defender.
On October 27, an investigation conducted by the Turkish Football Federation into 571 referees in Turkey’s professional football league revealed that 152 of them, including 22 referees in the first division, were “actively betting” on matches.
149 referees were suspended by the Federation
The TFF then suspended 149 referees for eight to twelve months, and vowed to “clean up” Turkish football.
In a joint statement, the referees emphasized that none of them had ever bet on a match they officiated. Some also claim that their bets date back to when they were still amateur referees.
In 2011, an unprecedented match-fixing scandal in Türkiye rocked the first and second division championships, particularly impacting Istanbul’s big club, Fenerbahçe.
