371 Referees Caught in Betting Scandal: Turkish Football faces massive match-fixing probe

The Turkish Football Federation (TFF) has disclosed a major scandal involving match officials, revealing that 371 out of 571 referees across the country’s professional leagues hold betting accounts, with 152 actively placing wagers.

The shocking revelation has prompted the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office to open a full-scale investigation into alleged match-fixing and illegal betting activities.

TFF President İbrahim Hacıosmanoğlu confirmed that an internal probe conducted in collaboration with state authorities uncovered extensive betting activity among referees—including seven elite referees and 15 assistant referees.

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In one extreme case, a referee allegedly placed 18,227 bets, while 42 referees were found to have wagered on more than 1,000 football matches.

Starting from today, our disciplinary committee will take the necessary actions.

Hacıosmanoğlu said, emphasising that all identified referees will be referred to the disciplinary board for sanction under federation regulations.

The prosecutor’s office said it has treated the TFF’s disclosure as an official denunciation and will deepen its investigation, which has been ongoing since April.

Authorities are probing violations of sports integrity laws, federation codes, and betting regulations that prohibit sports officials from engaging in gambling activities.

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Galatasaray President Dursun Özbek described the revelation as “an important turning point for Turkish football”, urging the TFF to publicly release the names of implicated referees, along with the matches they officiated and details of their wagers.

he vowed.

We will follow this process to the end

Fenerbahçe President Sadettin Saran said the findings validated long-standing suspicions within his club about refereeing bias and corruption. “Our righteousness is coming out,” he remarked, pledging to monitor the investigation closely.

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Meanwhile, Beşiktaş has demanded full disclosure of referees’ identities, while other clubs are calling for the suspension of relegation this season until the case concludes.

The probe, which spans a five-year period, marks one of the most serious integrity crises in Turkish football’s modern history, reigniting concerns about corruption and the credibility of officiating in the country’s top leagues.