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Turkey Detains 17 Referees and a Club President in Expanding Football Betting Probe

The sweep follows a five-year TFF review exposing widespread referee betting.

Overview

  • Prosecutors issued detention orders for 21 suspects and said at least 18 were taken into custody in coordinated raids across multiple provinces.
  • Authorities cited suspected abuse of duty and manipulating match results, and noted one person could be arrested for spreading misleading information online.
  • The Turkish Football Federation recently suspended 149 officials and imposed 8–12 month bans after finding 371 of 571 active referees held betting accounts, with 152 actively wagering.
  • Federation data included extreme cases such as a referee allegedly placing 18,227 bets, and 42 officials betting on more than 1,000 matches each.
  • Local reports say Eyupspor president Murat Ozkaya and former Kasimpasa owner Fatih Sarac are being questioned, while a group of referees issued a joint denial and said they never bet on matches they officiated.