Turkish authorities have detained at least 17 people following the issuance of detention warrants against a total of 19 executives of Turkish football clubs, as part of a growing investigation led by the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office into alleged illegal betting and match-fixing in the Turkish league.
The investigation was carried out following an analysis of data obtained from bookmakers operating legally in Turkey, and covered the period between 2020 and 2026, focusing on football club executives, according to the Turkish newspaper Hürriyet. As a result, officials were identified who, whilst in charge of their respective clubs, placed bets “in favour of the opposing team, bets relating to goals (over/under, etc.) and bets relating to players”.
The public prosecutor’s office then issued detention warrants for 19 suspects after determining that they had bet on matches involving their own teams, either in favour of the rivals or on markets relating to goals. In the operation, carried out simultaneously across 10 provinces but centred on Istanbul, 17 suspects were eventually detained, whilst it was confirmed that two others were abroad.
Among those detained are officials from leading clubs in the Turkish Süper Lig, including Beşiktaş, Galatasaray and Gençlerbirliği, as well as officials from several lower-league teams, including Adana Demirspor, Adanaspor, Altay, Altınordu, Bandırmaspor, Bodrumspor, Boluspor, Erzurumspor and Karaman FK.
Some officials placed as many as 1,500 bets, even on the rival team
Prosecutors allege that those detained placed varying numbers of bets via illegal platforms, with records ranging from seven betting slips to nearly 1,500 in some cases. The allegations range from seven bets attributed to Ali Sancak of Adana Demirspor to very high figures at Beşiktaş, such as the 1,488 placed by Tolga Kırgız and the 996 placed by Kerem Gürel.
Turkey’s Minister of Justice, Akın Gürlek, said in a statement posted on his social media account that “significant findings have been made regarding the betting activities of certain club officials working in the professional leagues affiliated with the Turkish Football Federation (TFF). A simultaneous operation was carried out today in Istanbul against 19 suspects”.
“Legal proceedings are being conducted meticulously to ensure clean football, protect the credibility of the sport and shed light on events that offend the conscience of our nation. We will resolutely pursue any suspicious structure, relationship or action that undermines the spirit of the sport and casts a shadow over the credibility of football,” the minister emphasised.
This operation against the executives of several clubs represents the latest phase in the crackdown on illegal betting in Turkish football. The investigation began last year and was expanded after the president of the Turkish Football Federation, İbrahim Hacıosmanoğlu, sparked a football scandal by revealing last October that 152 referees had been identified as having placed sports bets, something prohibited by law. Subsequently, the Istanbul public prosecutor’s office launched an investigation which eventually implicated more than a thousand footballers, going so far as to request the arrest of several players.
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Edited and reviewed by:
Pablo Gómez is a specialist in Turkey and has been editor-in-chief of Hispanatolia since 2011. He has been analysing current affairs and geopolitics in Turkey and the surrounding region since 2006.
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