- It was revealed on Monday that at least 370 soccer referees in Turkey have gambling accounts.
- One referee placed over 18,000 bets.
- This could cause broad, sweeping changes in Turkish soccer, as match-fixing has been a concern in the past.
An investigation in Turkey found that over half of their soccer referees have betting accounts, and over 25% are active gamblers.
With match fixing a concern in Turkish soccer, there could be changes coming from the Turkish Football Federation.
Almost 27% of Turkish Soccer Referees Are Active Gamblers
The Turkish Football Federation conducted a five-year investigation and has concluded that over half of its soccer referees have betting accounts.
The report states that 371 of their 571 referees have gambling accounts, and 152 are active bettors. 42 of these referees made over 1,000 bets, with a high of 18,227 bets from one official!
The president of the Turkish Football Federation, Ibrahim Ethem Haciosmanoglu, said:
"If we want to bring Turkish football to the place it deserves, we have to clean up whatever dirt there is.
Haciosmanoglu also claimed that the federation would hold the referees responsible, although he didn’t name any officials.
Turkish soccer has been plagued with accusations of match fixing for years now. In 2011, there was a major scandal that involved the top two leagues in Turkey. More recently, former Fenerbahçe manager Jose Mourinho didn’t explicitly accuse anyone of match fixing, but he did claim that referees were “biased”. He received a four-match ban for his words.
Furthermore, Turkey is very strict on gambling, and has some of the toughest regulatory laws in the world when it comes to gambling.
What Does This Mean for Turkish Soccer?
Turkish soccer has been under the microscope for a while concerning their officiating. The news that over half of their referees have accounts at soccer betting sites isn’t astounding.
What is surprising is that it took this long for the federation to do something about it. Turkish soccer still attracts high-level players, and some of their fans are the most raucous in the world. But a major scandal like this could do a lot of damage to the Super Lig and First League, the top two divisions in Turkey.
You can bet that there will be massive consequences for those officials, as the federation seems to be dead-set on cleaning up Turkish soccer. There will be referees who are made examples to dissuade other officials from ever engaging in match fixing!
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