Turkish court detains football refereeing chief pending corruption trial
The head of Turkiye’s football refereeing body and four other officials have been placed in pretrial detention by a court as part of a corruption investigation, the state news agency Anadolu reports. Ferhat Gundogdu, head of the Central Referees Committee, and six others appeared before a judge over allegations of manipulation of the referee administration […]
Turkiye's head of football refereeing, Ferhat Gundogdu, and four other officials have been detained pending a corruption trial, according to state news agency Anadolu. The officials appeared in court on charges of manipulating the referee administration process, including forgery of official documents, breach of trust, and illegal acquisition of personal data.
This is the latest scandal to hit Turkish football, coming a year after the Turkish Football Federation suspended 149 referees on charges of illegal betting. Police also detained Yasin Kol, a top-flight referee, and an assistant referee on Thursday night. Justice Minister Akin Gurlek stated that prosecutors are investigating claims of interference in referee classification, assignments, scoring, and exams.
Police searched the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) room at TFF headquarters in Istanbul on Tuesday. The investigation is reportedly linked to last year's betting scandal and may have significant implications for the federation. Sports journalist Ayhan Sensoy noted that it is unlikely that the federation's top officials will retain their positions. The TFF has not yet commented on the arrests as its leaders are returning from a match in Belgium.
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