The Turkish Football Federation has suspended over 1,000 players and referees, including top-flight athletes, as a vast betting investigation rocks the nation’s professional leagues and prompts match postponements.
The Turkish Football Federation (TFF) has suspended a total of 1,024 players from its professional leagues as part of an investigation into illegal betting activity, according to a report from The Nation Newspaper.
The TFF confirmed that players who have been identified as having placed bets on football have been referred to the country’s Professional Football Disciplinary Board (PFDK). The massive sweep included 27 players from Turkey’s top flight.
In response to the unprecedented squad shortages caused by the suspensions, matches in the third and fourth divisions of Turkish football have been postponed for two weeks. However, games in the country’s top two divisions are scheduled to continue.
The TFF has formally requested that world governing body FIFA grant an extra 15 days to the upcoming winter transfer window.
This extension is intended to give affected clubs the necessary time to deal with their sudden squad deficiencies.
The betting scandal initially came to light on October 27, when TFF president Ibrahim Haciosmanoglu claimed that hundreds of referees were also linked to betting accounts.
Haciosmanoglu stated that out of 571 referees in the professional leagues, 371 had betting accounts and 152 were actively placing wagers. He also claimed that 10 referees each placed more than 10,000 bets, with one individual placing 18,227.
Besiktas, one of Turkey’s largest clubs, issued a statement confirming that two of their players had been referred to the PFDK, adding that the club had “full faith” in the innocence of the pair.
Local reports have also indicated that eight people, including a club chairman, have been arrested as part of the ongoing investigation.