Turkish football rocked by massive referee betting scandal

Turkish football has plunged into crisis as the Turkish Football Federation (TFF) launched an unprecedented investigation into hundreds of referees accused of betting on football matches.

The probe began earlier this year after the TFF received data from national betting regulators indicating irregular betting activity linked to referee accounts.

The revelation has triggered disciplinary and criminal proceedings that could lead to the largest officiating overhaul in Turkish history.

The initial audit, expanded to all professional leagues, uncovered that out of 571 active officials, 371 held betting accounts and 152 were actively engaging in gambling.

The depth of the findings is staggering: one referee placed bets on 18,227 matches over a five-year period, averaging nearly ten bets per day. Ten others placed more than 10,000 bets each, and 42 placed over 1,000.

Investigators are now determining whether any wagers were placed on matches the referees officiated, or whether betting patterns influenced game outcomes.

While no arrests have been made, several referees have already been suspended pending disciplinary hearings.