A five-year investigation into referees found that over 150 were actively gambling, with one individual allegedly placing over 18,000 bets.
Turkey’s football federation chief Ibrahim Ethem Haciosmanoglu claimed the half-decade investigation into officials in the country found that 371 of 571 match officials have gambling accounts with 152 of those currently active.
He revealed at a conference in Istanbul that 42 of those 152 accounts had allegedly seen over 1,000 football matches bet upon, while one had a reported 18,227 flutters.
Ten referees, according to Haciosmanoglu, allegedly bet on more than 10,000 matches each across a five-year period.
“If we want to bring Turkish football to the place it deserves, we have to clean up whatever dirt there is,” Haciosmanoglu said, while also confirming that the cases would be dealt with immediately.
The 371 officials included seven referees and 15 assistant referees from Turkey’s top two divisions – Super Lig and TFF First League – with more officials stemming from the leagues below.
Referee scandal
“This is both shocking and deeply saddening for Turkish football,” said Sadettin Saran, president of Fenerbahce.
“But the fact that it is coming to light is a hopeful development.”
Referees could face a ban and disciplinary hearings from the national governing body, the TFF, as well as Fifa and Uefa.
Article 27 of the Fifa Code of Ethics could be applied to the officials, with a fine of £95,000 and a three-year suspension possible.
Added Haciosmanoglu: “Our duty is to elevate Turkish football to its rightful place and to purge it of all its filth.
“As a federation, we started by cleaning up our own backyard.
“Among those found to have betting accounts were seven top-level referees, 15 top-level assistants, 36 classified referees, and 94 classified assistants.”
Galatasaray lead the Super Lig, ahead of Trabzonspor, Fenerbahce and Besiktas.