October 27 – Turkish football has been rocked by news that out of a total of 571 active referees in the professional leagues, 371 have accounts with one or more of six different betting companies, with 152 of the referees having bet directly on football matches.
The announcement was made earlier today at a Turkish Football Federation (TFF) press conference at the TFF Riva Hasan Doğan National Teams Camp and Training Facilities.
TFF president İbrahim Ethem Hacıosmanoğlu (pictured) said that “Turkish football needs change”, and that a process of “cleaning up” corruption is starting.
Hacıosmanoğlu said that the TFF Disciplinary Committee will immediately initiate disciplinary action.
“This is a turning point for Turkish football. We have been working with the police and people from the authorities for months to establish the level of corruption. I promise that we will clean up Turkish football and bring it to the level it deserves. The clubs must also investigate themselves, including the players,” said Haciosmanoglu.
The TFF said the data was a result of months of investigations involving the federation, state authorities and professional clubs. The announcement was attended by key TFF officials, including deputy chairman Mecnun Otyakmaz and Fuat Göktaş, members of the board of directors.
The data broke down the categories of match officials who have bet on football as follows:
– Super League Referee: 7
– Super League Assistant Referee: 15
– Lower divisions Referee: 36
– Lower divisions Assistant Referee: 94
The data showed that ‘most’ of the bets were placed on matches in foreign leagues but there was no data on how many bets were placed on matches in Turkey, whether the officials were betting on matches they were officiating or whether there was any suspected collusion with referees officiating other games that were being bet on by their officiating colleagues.
The data did show that a total of 10 referees have bet on over 10,000 football matches, with one referee alone betting on 18,227 matches.
There were 42 referees who individually bet on more than 1,000 games.
Hacıosmanoğlu called on football clubs to start their own investigations, noting that he and the TFF Board of Directors are also being investigated by state institutions.
He stressed the importance of the investigations and the disciplinary action for the restoration of a “clean and moral Turkish football,” saying that the results of the TFF’s own investigation will be shared publicly.
He confirmed that the information has been shared with FIFA and UEFA, and concluded with a call for cooperation among everyone in the football family to ensure “good and moral generations” of referees and players. The TFF plans to accelerate its work on training new, young referees, including through courses in 81 provinces and a special programme at Yeditepe University.
Contact the writer of this story, Aleksander Krassimirov, at moc.l1761582394labto1761582394ofdlr1761582394owedi1761582394sni@o1761582394fni1761582394
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