Betting scandal in Turkey – over 1000 players involved
The chaos in the Turkish Super League has reached a dramatic new level.
An Istanbul court has ordered the preventive detention of Murat Ozkaya, the president of Eyüpspor, and seven referees, who are accused of "influencing the results" of matches.
But that's not all - the Turkish Football Federation has also referred 1,204 footballers to the disciplinary committee for questionable sports betting.
This measure is considered "preventive" by the Federation. Of the over 1,000 players referred, 27 play in the Super League, including two from Galatasaray, two from Beşiktaş and one from Trabzonspor, while 77 others play in the Second Division.
List of some players involved in the investigation
- Besiktas: Ersin Destanoğlu, Necip Uysal
- Alanyaspor: İzzet Çelik, Enes Keskin, Yusuf Ozdemir, Bedirhan Ozyurt
- Rizespor: Efe Dogan, Furkan Orak
- Galatasaray: Metehan Baltacı, Evren Eren Elmalı
- Gaziantep FK: Muhammet Taha Güneş, Nazim Sangare
- Goztepe FK: İzzet Furkan Malak, Uğur Kaan Yıldız
- Antalyaspor: Kerem Kayaarasi
- Eyupspor: Mükremin Arda Turkoz
- Kasimpasa: Ege Albayrak, Ali Emre Yanar
- Fatih Karagümrük: Furkan Beklevic, Kerem Yusuf Sirkeci
- Samsunpor: Celil Yuksel
- Trabzonspor: Boran Baskan, Salih Malkoçoğlu
The latest scandal is linked to discussions over the past month about questionable betting in Turkish professional football. As a result, 149 referees have been sanctioned and over 40 match officials have been forced to resign.
