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The Turkish Football Federation has suspended 149 referees and assistant referees after an investigation revealed that hundreds of professional match referees in the country had betting accounts.
A ban of between eight and 12 months, depending on the “seriousness of the act”, was imposed for engaging in the betting activity, and investigations into three other officials are still ongoing.
The full list of sanctioned officials is published on the TFF website.
On Monday, a five-year investigation was revealed, which found that 371 of the match’s 571 referees had betting accounts, including 152 of those who actively gambled.
While some only bet once, 42 of them bet on more than 1,000 football matches, with one official found to have placed 18,227 bets.
Like players and coaches, match referees are prohibited from engaging in betting activities under the Turkish Football Federation’s disciplinary regulations, as well as those of FIFA and European governing body UEFA.
Turkish Football Federation President Ibrahim Haciosmanoglu told CNN on Friday: “There is a moral crisis in Turkish football. There is no such thing as structure. The fundamental problem at the core of Turkish football is a moral problem.”
“Ask any referee, if there is any referee who does not receive his salary, I will resign as president of the federation. In fact, we improved their salaries last year, and again this year.”
No further details were provided about the cases or ongoing investigations.
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