Turkey Suspends 149 Soccer Match Officials After Five-Year Sports Betting Probe

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Officials caught betting

Turkish soccer’s governing body has suspended a staggering 149 match officials and assistant officials on the back of a five-year-long sports betting investigation. 

The Turkish Football Federation (TFF) announced the decision on Friday after its long-term probe found hundreds of professional referees also owned betting accounts. 

371 had betting accounts and 152 were actively gambling

According to reports emerging on Monday, the TFF investigation found that of 571 Turkish match officials, 371 had betting accounts and 152 were actively gambling. The TFF and global soccer bodies like FIFA have long banned match officials, players and coaches from engaging in betting activities, giving extra weight to the seriousness of the high-level scale of the Turkish scandal. 

Forty-two officials bet on over 1,000 soccer games with one official placing 18,227 bets.

Turkey betting minefield

According to the BBC, TFF president Ibrahim Haciosmanoglu said on Friday after announcing the sanctions that there was “a moral crisis” in Turkish soccer” and that “The fundamental problem at the core of Turkish football is an ethical one.”

While Haciosmanoglu focused on moral issues, Turkey’s betting regulations suggest a more sinister force at play. Gambling is only counted as a misdemeanor crime in Turkey, a country where, despite illegal operators facing heavy penalties, the country’s estimated $3bn-$11.6bn illegal betting market is almost on par with the UK’s $12.4bn market.

iGaming entrepreneur Dmitry Belianin took to X to highlight the size of the unregulated Turkish market, which he stated essentially runs as “a black hat market” and that it was “no surprise refs were in on the action too”:

The TFF’s disciplinary arm has nevertheless dished out suspensions to the referees ranging from eight to 12 months, with three other match officials still under investigation.

“Refereeing is a profession of honour,” Haciosmanoglu said, warning that any who tarnish that honor, “will never again be involved in Turkish football.”

Room for optimism?

According to the TFF, 22 of the referees sanctioned officiated in Turkey’s elite soccer division, the Süper Lig. 

a new beginning for clean football”

After the FAA’s findings were made public on Monday, some Süper Lig franchises expressed optimism. Besiktas said it “could mark a new beginning for clean football” while Trabzonspor said the sanctions marked “an historic opportunity to rebuild justice in Turkish football.”

Fenerbahce’s president said that the scandal being exposed was “a hopeful development,” but summed up the international reaction to the scandal as “shocking and deeply saddening” for the Turkish game.

Neither Haciosmanoglu nor the FAA clarified whether any of the sanctioned refs were suspected of betting on games they were officiating. The Istanbul Public Prosecutor’s Office has also launched an investigation.

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