Another blow to the prestige of football in Turkey. The president of the Turkish Football Federation (TFF), Ibrahim Hasiomanoglou gave a press conference and shocked everyone, regarding the referees that blow the whistle on the neighboring country, in all categories.
Hundreds of Turkish soccer referees, including some at national level, are betting on matches despite the ban, Hasiomanoglou said on Monday (27.10.2025) and promised immediate sanctions.
An internal survey of 571 referees revealed that of the 571 referees 371 have betting accounts and 152 actively bet. At that press conference, a competent member of the country’s financial staff, who did the research, was also present and informed about its findings.
“We are determined to clean football of every trace of corruption. We will make no exception,” Hatziosmanoglou said, adding that the “necessary sanctions” would be taken immediately.
Ten of the accused referees placed more than 10,000 bets, with one of them reaching 18,227! 42 referees each bet on more than 1,000 football matches, the TFF chief detailed.
Mr. Hatziosmanoglou, according to which 22 of the 371 referees (7 referees and 15 assistants) are referees who compete at the national level (“senior level”), did not specify their identity or indicate whether there were any suspects of betting on matches they refereed.
TFF President İbrahim Hacıosmanoğlu announced that 371 of the 571 referees working in professional leagues have betting accounts and 152 of them are actively betting. pic.twitter.com/cZ4RxEdY58
— AA SPORTS (@aa_spor) October 27, 2025
Faced with allegations of bias, which are regularly leveled against Turkish referees, the TFF has entrusted VAR for several Turkish Süper Lig matches to foreign referees in the spring of 2024.
In February, a foreign referee even blew the whistle in the Istanbul derby between Galatasaray and Fenerbahce, which has for years accused referees of favoring their opponents.