- The TFF suspended 448 club officials for betting.
- Trabzonspor’s president and Beşiktaş’s vice president are among them.
- More than 1,000 players and 149 referees were suspended in 2025.
TURKEY – Officials from the top two divisions of the Turkish Football Federation (TFF) are in hot water after the 2025 gambling scandal has evolved. The TFF suspended 448 club executives (current and former) as part of an illegal gambling investigation.
Super Lig club officials make more than one third of the list, as the TFF named 171 officials.
The suspended parties include some big names, including Hakan Daltaban, the vice president of Besiktas, and Ertugrul Dogan, the president of Trabzonspor.
In response, Dogan acknowledged holding an account with a sports betting site but argued that betting was so built into Turkish football, with betting companies sponsoring clubs and hosting events, that no one saw it as a problem.
“These companies used to sponsor clubs and organise launch events, no one expected that this would cause problems. If we made a mistake then we apologise, but we did not commit any wrongdoing.”
Ertugrul Dogan, via Goal
Under federation rules, however, club officials, players and referees are barred from betting on soccer regardless of where the bet is placed.
How This Gambling Scandal First Started
This new round of suspended members of the TFF follows over 1,000 suspensions that took place last year due to illegal gambling as well.
In October of 2025, the TFF announced that 371 of Turkey’s 571 referees were signed up for betting apps and 152 of those accounts were active. This triggered an internal investigation to go deeper, as the federation suspended 1,024 players in November of 2025.
What Happens Next
All 448 cases now sit with the federation’s Professional Football Disciplinary Board (PFDK), where betting violations carry bans of three months to a year, but there are no rulings at this time.
With referees, players, coaches and now club executives caught up in the investigation, it’s clear the fallout from Turkish football’s sports betting scandal is far from over.
