🇹🇷 Scandal rocks Turkish football, 18 arrested over illegal betting | OneFootball

A shocking news story shakes the world of Turkish football. The Istanbul prosecutor's office has confirmed the arrest of 18 people as part of a large-scale investigation into alleged illegal sports betting involving football referees. Arrest warrants have been issued against a total of 21 individuals, including 17 referees and the president of a first division club.

The focus of the investigation is on possible match-fixing offenses and misuse of authority. These arrests come after a previous action by the Turkish Football Federation (TFF), which had already suspended 149 referees last week for violating the ban on betting on football matches. The sanctions imposed by the TFF reach up to twelve months of disqualification.

According to internal data provided by the federation itself, the investigations have revealed that 152 of the 571 referees investigated had bet "actively". An especially sensitive fact is that 22 of these referees belong to the top category of Turkish football. However, the TFF has not specified whether the matches refereed by the referees themselves are compromised in this betting scheme.

The affected referees, for their part, have issued a joint statement calling the accusations "outrageous." In their defense, they categorically assert that they never bet on matches they officiated themselves. Some have clarified that their betting history is limited solely to their time as amateur referees, thus seeking to dissociate their actions from their current professional career.

This scandal highlights a systemic problem in the sport and demands a thorough review of control and ethics mechanisms within the refereeing structures. The investigation is ongoing and is expected to shed more light on the magnitude of this betting network and possible manipulation in professional Turkish football.

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

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