&imwidth=800&imheight=600&format=webp&quality=medium "Turkish football in crisis: 29 held over match-fixing and betting operations including former Galatasaray president")
The betting scandal in Turkish football deepened larger on Friday (Dec 29) after authorities arrested 29 people, including 14 football players, according to Istanbul prosecutors. These arrests come after six referees and the head of top-division club Eyupspor were jailed earlier in November. Those detained include a former Galatasaray president, Erden Timur, Eyupspor vice-president Fatih Kulaksiz, a Turkish Football Federation board member, several business figures and a former police officer.
"Arrest warrants have been issued against 29 people, including 14 footballers,and 24 have been placed in police custody," read the prosecutor's statement.
Six of the suspects are accused of "influencing the result of the match Kasımpasa-Samsunspor" on October 26, 2024, and the 14 players had "placed bets in a manner that could affect the result of the match" in betting on the victory of the opposing team in the match against their own club.
According to the prosecutor's office, suspect transactions were identified on bank accounts, notably "money going in and out considered to be linked to bets, suspicions that the origins of funds were being concealed and unusual financial transactions".
This is the third wave of operations linked to sports betting. The TFF, who has said it wants to "clean up" Turkish football, suspended 150 referees last month found guilty of betting on matches.
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They also suspended 25 first division players and around 1,000 others from the second, third and fourth tiers.
Earlier, The Turkish Football Federation (TFF) has handed down bans to 102 players across the top two divisions of Turkish football for their involvement in betting-related activities. The bans vary in length, ranging from three months to a year. Among the notable players affected are Eren Elmali and Metehan Baltaci of Galatasaray.
Elmali was suspended for 45 days, and Baltaci was banned for nine months. These punishments were given by the Professional Football Disciplinary Board (PFDK) and will become final after the seven-day appeal period ends. The decisions are part of a major investigation into betting in Turkish football, which led the TFF to temporarily suspend 1,024 professional players.
In addition to players and coaches, match officials are prohibited from engaging in betting activities by both TFF and international governing bodies like FIFA and UEFA.
With inputs from agencies
