An Istanbul court has issued arrest warrants for eight suspects, including a club president and several referees, the state-owned Anadolu news agency reported. The suspects are accused of abuse of office, match-fixing and other offenses.
Murat Ozkaya, president of Eyupsport, which plays in Turkey’s topflight Super Lig, is among those targeted. Eleven other suspects who were held on Friday have since been released on bail.
The Turkish Football Federation (TFF) says it has summoned 1,024 players before its disciplinary committee on charges of betting on matches. For the past two weeks, all matches in Turkey’s third and fourth divisions — where more than 900 of the summoned players compete — have been canceled. Twenty-seven of the summoned players are from Super Lig clubs, including Galatasaray and Besiktas.
Galatasaray left back Eren Elmali has been dropped from the national team for upcoming World Cup qualifiers against Bulgaria and Spain amid the probe. Elmali posted on Instagram that the allegation against him stems from a single bet he placed years ago that did not involve his own team and defended his record, saying he has never violated football’s ethical principles.
The scandal first surfaced at the end of October when the TFF disclosed allegations that 152 match officials had placed bets on football matches. The TFF has suspended 149 head referees and assistant referees for periods of eight to 12 months. In a joint statement, the suspected referees denied the allegations, calling them “outrageous” and saying none had bet on matches they officiated.
Edited by: Matt Pearson
