The scandal continues in Turkish football: more than 1,000 footballers investigated and 6 arrested on suspicion of betting and match-fixing

An Istanbul court on Monday ordered the pretrial detention of six Turkish referees suspected of involvement in a major betting case, as the Turkish Football Federation expanded its investigation to include more than 1,000 players.

Furthermore, a judge has ordered the imprisonment of the president of Eyüpspor, a Turkish first division club, in connection with these investigations. Eleven referees who had been in police custody since Friday were released under judicial supervision on Monday by the Turkish judiciary, which is investigating, in particular, evidence of match-fixing.

The six referees sent to prison officiated as assistant referees in the third and fourth divisions, according to the Turkish Football Federation (TFF) website.

The Federation has called an extraordinary meeting for tomorrow afternoon, Tuesday, reports Turkish television channel NTV. The betting scandal has caused a major uproar in the

Turkish football and the TFF have promised to eradicate the phenomenon at its root, while still clarifying that there is no evidence of organized match-fixing and that most of the referees investigated were losing money on bets.

Meanwhile, the TFF announced on Monday that it had summoned 1,024 footballers from across the country to its disciplinary committee, accused of betting on matches despite the ban. Among the 27 Super League players referred to the committee are two from Galatasaray, two from Besiktas, and one from Trabzonspor, according to the list released by the TFF. With the exception of Fenerbahçe, all the teams currently in the top ten of the Super League have between one and three players involved.

The country's third and fourth division championships, in which more than 900 of the implicated players play, have been suspended for two weeks, the TFF announced.

Twenty-seven of the players under suspicion for placing bets play in the first division, including Turkish international Eren Elmali, a defender for Galatasaray.

On October 27, an internal investigation by the Turkish Football Federation (TFF) into 571 referees in professional leagues revealed that 152 of them, 22 of whom officiate in the first division, were "actively betting" on matches. Shortly afterward, the TFF suspended 149 referees for periods ranging from eight to twelve months, vowing to "clean up" Turkish football.

In a joint statement released Wednesday, these referees denounced "hateful accusations," asserting that none of them has ever bet on a match they have officiated. Some of them also claim that their betting history dates back to their time as amateur referees.

In 2011, an unprecedented match-fixing scandal in Türkiye rocked the first and second division championships, resulting in the relegation of the great Istanbul club Fenerbahçe.