A real earthquake shakes Turkish football. TFF, the national football federation, has opened an internal investigation after the president Ibrahim Haciosmanoglu made public a disturbing fact: 152 referees and assistants They allegedly placed bets on football matches, blatantly violating the rules and ethics of the sport.
The official press release published on the TFF website is clear: among those involved there would be seven high-level referees e fifteen top-level assistants, figures who regularly referee matches in the major leagues.
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The numbers are shocking. Just one referee would have bet on over 18.000 games, ten out of more than 10.000 and another forty-two out of more than 1.000 sporting events. "From today," Haciosmanoglu declared, "our disciplinary commission will initiate the necessary proceedings, issue postponements, and impose appropriate sanctions."
In Turkey, as in the rest of Europe, the referees are betting is prohibited on any football event. But the newly opened investigation suggests a deeply corrupt system, in which trust and impartiality in the country's most popular game have been called into question. The scandal, which is set to engulf even the federation's top brass, risks leaving an indelible mark on the credibility of Turkish football.
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