ISTANBUL: The Turkish Football Federation (TFF) said Saturday it was working to shake up its refereeing oversight body after its top official was jailed pending trial on graft charges.
Ferhat Gundogdu, who heads the Central Referees Committee (MHK), and six other referee officials appeared in court Friday on suspicion of manipulating the referee administration process.
The judge placed Gundogdu and four others in pre-trial detention, while granting the two other officials conditional release.
“In light of these developments, work is ongoing to form a new Central Referees Committee,” the TFF said in a statement on its website, its first comment on the arrests, which happened on Tuesday.
Referees for Turkish cup matches next week would be chosen by four MHK members not caught up in the scandal, it added.
The seven accused face charges that include “official document forgery”, “breach of trust” and “illegal acquisition of personal data”.
The scandal came exactly a year after the TFF suspended 149 referees on charges of illegal betting.
On Thursday night, police from the illegal betting and sports crime unit also detained Yasin Kol, a referee from Turkiye’s top-flight Super Lig, as well as an assistant referee, media reports said.
Justice Minister Akin Gurlek has said prosecutors are examining claims about “interference in the processes of referee classification, assignments, scoring and appointments, as well as the exams on rules”.
During Tuesday’s raids, police searched the VAR room at TFF’s headquarters in Istanbul, with observers saying the investigation was likely linked to last year’s betting scandal and would have implications for the federation.
“It does seem to be a continuation of 2025, and it looks like it will continue further,” sports journalist Ayhan Sensoy told AFP.
Sensoy, who wrote a 2024 book The Gambling Pit”, said it was unlikely federation bosses “have any chance of staying in office”.
Top TFF officials are due to fly home on Saturday after attending Friday night’s Belgium-Turkiye UEFA Nations League clash in Liege, which Turkiye lost 3-0.
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