 said Monday it has referred 353 referees and 75 regional match observers to the Professional Football Disciplinary Board (PFDK) after concluding that they placed bets.){kind=link}
The Turkish Football Federation (TFF) said Monday it has referred 353 referees and 75 regional match observers to the Professional Football Disciplinary Board (PFDK) after concluding that they placed bets, a move that expands an investigation that has also turned into a criminal case.
In a statement the federation said the officials were sent to the PFDK with precautionary measures starting December 29 under Article 57 of the federation’s Football Disciplinary Instruction, which bans people working in football from betting on matches or football-related activity.
The new referrals bring another wave of action inside Turkish football after the federation previously said it had suspended 149 referees and assistant referees and imposed bans on 1,024 players across all leagues as it reviewed betting activity.
The disciplinary activity is running in parallel with a criminal investigation led by the İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office, which has carried out raids and detentions focused on illegal betting in professional football.
Prosecutors ordered 29 more people detained on Friday, with 24 already in custody at the time, including Erden Timur, identified as a former Galatasaray executive.
Prosecutors find Timur’s financial transactions suspicious rather than finding him to have placed bets.
The TFF has not published a full list of today’s referees and observers referred to the PFDK in the federation statement carried by Turkish media. The federation did not say whether the regional officials are linked to any specific match or whether any of the cases overlap with the ongoing criminal file.
Turkey has long battled illegal betting networks, and the country’s football authorities have treated betting by referees and match officials as a threat to match integrity, using disciplinary sanctions that can sideline officials and end assignments even before criminal courts reach a conclusion.