The Turkish Football Federation (TFF) has referred 1,024 professional footballers to its disciplinary board after widening its ongoing sports betting investigation.
The players are accused of placing bets on football matches and have been referred to the Professional Football Disciplinary Board (PFDK), including 27 players from the country’s top football league (Süper Lig), and 77 players from the second division (1. Lig).
Among the 1,024 named players are four players from leading clubs Besiktas (Ersin Destanoglu and Necip Uysal) and Galatasaray (Metehan Baltaci and Eren Elmali), although the majority are third and fourth division players.
The TFF has confirmed that matches in the third and fourth divisions have now been postponed for two weeks as a result of the investigation.
The TFF has asked football world governing body FIFA for an extra 15 days to be added to the winter transfer window so that clubs can deal with squad shortages.
In a statement, Besiktas said the club was closely monitoring the process and remains in contact with the TFF.
“It is crucial that this sensitive situation, which deeply concerns our players’ personal rights, their families, and our community, be handled with the utmost care, taking into account the universal legal norm of the presumption of innocence,” said the club. “We have full confidence in the innocence of both players.
“We will immediately initiate legal proceedings with the TFF (Turkish Football Federation). The players in question will file a legal objection with the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office tomorrow morning.”
The investigation is the latest shockwave to hit Turkish football after more than 150 referees were suspended by the PFDK at the end of last month for betting violations.
This came after TFF president Ibrahim Haciosmanoglu revealed that 371 of the country’s 571 registered referees were found to hold betting accounts.
Last week, Istanbul’s Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office issued arrest warrants for 21 individuals following raids across Instanbul and 11 other provinces. This included Murat Ozkaya, president of Süper Lig club Eyupspor, and 17 referees.