Hundreds of referees in Turkey accused of betting on football matches | OneFootball

Hundreds of Turkish football referees, some of them at the national level, allegedly bet on matches despite a ban, stated the president of the Turkish Football Federation (TFF) this Monday, promising imminent sanctions.

An internal investigation into 571 referees showed that “371 have betting accounts and 152 actively bet,” revealed Ibrahim Haciosmanoglu, president of the TFF, during a press statement.

“We are determined to cleanse football of any trace of corruption. We will make no exceptions,” warned Haciosmanoglu, adding that the “necessary sanctions” will be applied “starting today,” Monday.

Ten accused judges allegedly placed more than 10,000 bets, and one of them is said to have bet on 18,227 occasions. There are also 42 referees who allegedly bet on more than 1,000 football matches each, detailed the federation president.

Haciosmanoglu detailed that 22 of the 371 judges (7 main referees and 15 assistants) work at the national level, but he did not reveal their identities nor indicate if any are suspected of having bet on matches they themselves officiated.

In light of the accusations of bias that Turkish referees frequently face, the TFF delegated the VAR of several Turkish Super League games to foreign referees in the spring (northern hemisphere) of 2024.

In February, a foreign referee officiated the heated Istanbul derby between Galatasaray and Fenerbahçe, who have accused referees of favoring their opponent for years.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.