A jaw-dropping scandal has engulfed Turkish football. Some 17 referees have been arrested over allegations that have officially been described as ‘manipulating match results’ and ‘abuse of duty’. All told, a whopping 149 match officials have been suspended from duty, while a president from Turkish Super League club, Turgay Ciner, and a former owner, Fatih Sarac, have also been detained by police.
Exact details are still emerging, but this is without doubt one of the most significant corruption scandals ever witnessed in European football.
Moral Crisis
It was first reported on October 31 that such an incredible number of referees, assistant referees and VAR operators had been suspended, following an undercover investigation which alleged that they had active betting accounts – with some wagering on the outcome of games in Turkey’s professional leagues.
Refs Had Active Betting Accounts
The probe found that of the 571 registered match officials in Turkey, 371 had a live betting account… with 152 of those described as ‘active’. Members of that smaller group were found to have bet on Super League games, as well as lower league encounters and international matches.
Troublingly, of those embroiled in the scandal, 12 are either regular referees or assistant referees in the Super League. Some of the other betting accounts examined had seen only one bet placed and others hadn’t wagered at all. But of the entire suspended group, 42 had bet on at least 1,000 football matches… with one placing a staggering 18,277 bets on football.
Turkish Football Federation Rules
The Turkish Football Federation, not to mention UEFA and FIFA, have strict rules preventing anyone involved in professional football from betting on the beautiful game; hence the high number of officials that were banned from duty, with the length of sanctions ranging from eight months to a year.
However, both UEFA and FIFA have the jurisdiction and power to increase those suspensions if they see fit… perhaps even to lifetime bans. TFF president Ibrahim Haciosmanoglu said:
There is a moral crisis in Turkish football. There is no such thing as structure. The fundamental problem at the core of Turkish football is an ethical one.
That alone was enough to cause plenty of red faces amongst Haciosmanoglu’s colleagues at the Turkish Football Federation. But then things were about to get even worse…
Manipulating the Outcome
In early November 2025, Turkish prosecutors hauled in 21 individuals – 17 of them referees, plus at least one senior person currently employed at a Super League club – for questioning. The referees are accused of the manipulation of results – few specifics are known about that at the time of writing, while the club officials are being quizzed over allegations of match fixing.
Curiously, one of the individuals was arrested for ‘spreading misleading information’ on social media. If we rewind a little to September 2025, the seeds of this remarkable story were being sown. A group of Turkish match officials approached the TFF to raise concerns over feeling pressurised to favour certain clubs, with certain referees handing officiating assignments with the same teams on a consistent basis.
This formed the initial basis for the TFF’s investigation into their match officials, which soon matured into examining their financial activities… which in turn uncovered their proclivity for betting. Manipulation of sporting outcomes is punishable with a prison sentence of between one and three years in Turkey, however where there is evidence of the involvement of an organised crime syndicate, the term of imprisonment can be increased to anything from five to 12 years.
Turkish Football’s Integrity Issues
In April 2024, Ankaraspor took on Nazillispor in the Turkish third tier. The game finished 0-0, which in itself is nothing unusual. But closer inspection of the stats sets eyebrows to raised: not a single shot at goal was recorded in the entire contest.
It’s worth noting that the draw secured Ankaraspor a place in the promotion play-offs, while the point gained also kept Nazillispor free from relegation to the fourth tier. Unsurprisingly, the TFF were keen to know a little more about this extraordinary anomaly and so they began investigating the game in more detail.
In September 2025, nearly 18 months later, the Turkish Football Federation banned 12 players that were on the pitch that day, as well as the president of Nazillispor. Why? Because, and this may not shock you, they were all found to have placed bets on the game ending in a 0-0 draw.
A Big Problem
As the TFF began its own investigation into its match officials, investigative reporters in Turkey were unearthing their own sources and stories. One claimed that the president of the refereeing committee MHK, Ferhat Gundogdu, had an active betting account. Others claimed that they had seen evidence of other referees, players and even a team masseuse placing thousands of bets on football matches.
On October 31, the leader of the Republican People’s Party – Ozgur Ozel – claimed that nearly £100,000 had been bet on a Goztepe player, Malcolm Bokele, to be sent off in a Super League game against Galatasaray five days earlier. Ozel alleged that the red card was unfair, and a full investigation has since been launched.
A New Dawn
They say that it’s darkest before the dawn. All of the above should serve as a wake-up call to Turkish football, for whom 2025 has been something of an annus horribilis in terms of integrity breaches and corruption. Haciosmanoglu has revealed his intention to clean up the sport, with plans for a new training programme for referees that includes new modules on ethical compliance and whistleblowing.
Real-Time Monitoring of Financial Activities
It’s likely that the TFF will introduce the permanent real-time monitoring of its match officials’ financial activities, while closer links with law officials and bookmakers will be sought to ensure quicker identification of suspicious patterns and their subsequent bringing to justice.
Besiktas described the move as a ‘historic step towards clean football’, while a spokesperson alluded to the notion that corruption amongst Turkish football’s referees has been rife for a long time.
With the announcement made by the president of the Turkish Football Federation, Ibrahim Haciosmanoglu, the extent of the structural decay that we have been voicing for a long time in the refereeing community has become clear.
