More than 1,000 players are under investigation, Turkish football is in crisis

Many players playing in Turkey are under investigation. Photo: Reuters .

On November 11, the Turkish Football Federation (TFF) confirmed that more than 1,000 players and nearly 150 referees were being investigated for involvement in football betting. The scandal has caused a series of matches to be postponed, many people to be arrested and raised big questions about the integrity of domestic tournaments.

According to information released by the TFF, a total of 1,024 professional players across various divisions have been referred to the Professional Disciplinary Committee (PFDK) for review of betting behavior. Among them are 27 players playing in the Super Lig, including names from top clubs such as Galatasaray, Besiktas and Trabzonspor.

Remarkably, almost all of the teams in the top 10 of the Super Lig are affected, except for Fenerbahce.

The investigation did not stop at the top level. 77 players in the First Division (1. Lig), 282 players in the Second Division (2. Lig) and 629 players in the Third Division (3. Lig) were also named, along with 9 cases outside the professional competition system. Due to the large scale, TFF was forced to postpone the lower leagues for two weeks to give the teams time to rearrange their personnel.

Betting scandal affects Turkish football. Photo: Reuters .

The crisis also lies at the heart of the refereeing community. An internal audit by the TFF found that 371 of the 571 referees currently working in Türkiye had betting accounts, of which 152 were directly betting on football matches, including those they had refereed.

One referee was found to have placed more than 18,000 bets, while dozens of others made over 1,000 transactions.

TFF President Ibrahim Haciosmanoglu called it “the most serious moral crisis in the history of Turkish football”, stressing that the problem was not only administrative but also related to professional qualities.

The case became more serious when an Istanbul court ordered the arrest of Eyupspor president Murat Ozkaya and seven others on charges of match-fixing and involvement in an illegal betting network. Authorities said the investigation would continue, with the possibility of additional charges related to match-fixing and sports corruption.

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Source: https://znews.vn/hon-1000-cau-thu-bi-dieu-tra-bong-da-tho-nhi-ky-khung-hoang-post1602016.html