The Turkish Football Federation has imposed a 45-day suspension on 147 current and former club officials, including Trabzonspor chairman Ertugrul Dogan, following an investigation into the cases of 448 individuals accused of betting in office.
The Turkish Football Federation (TFF) has imposed a 45-day suspension on 147 current and former club officials, including Trabzonspor Chairman Ertugrul Dogan, thereby barring them from all football-related activities.
The TFF’s Professional Football Disciplinary Committee (PFDK) imposed the sanctions on Tuesday (20 October) following an investigation into the cases of 448 individuals accused of placing bets while holding a position at their club.
The committee did not impose sanctions on the remaining 301 officials, as there were insufficient grounds for disciplinary action.
The PFDK imposed a sanction on Dogan under Article 57/2 of the TFF’s Football Disciplinary Regulations, which prohibits individuals working in football from placing bets, and applied Article 13 to set the suspension at 45 days, according to the committee’s ruling.
TFF: provisional suspensions
On 1 October, the TFF provisionally suspended all 448 officials and referred them to the PFDK. The association stated the officials had been employed by clubs in the Süper Lig and the TFF 1. Lig and that they had placed bets during their terms of office over the past five years.
The PFDK cleared Besiktas Vice-President Hakan Daltaban, who had also been provisionally suspended. The board banned Trabzonspor Vice-President Zeyyat Kafkas for 45 days under the same articles.
Following the provisional suspension, Dogan told Turkish broadcaster A Spor he had previously held a betting account and had reported this to the authorities.
“These companies sponsored clubs and organised launch events. Nobody thought this would cause any problems… if we made a mistake, we apologise, but we did nothing wrong,” said Dogan.
The TFF’s rules, as well as those of FIFA and UEFA, prohibit club officials, players, coaches and referees from placing bets.
The International Betting Integrity Association (IBIA) reported 70 suspicious betting alerts in the first quarter of 2026.
Wider crackdown in Turkey
The TFF separately launched an investigation into gambling in 2025. President Ibrahim Haciosmanoglu said in October of that year 371 of the 571 referees in the Turkish professional leagues had a gambling account, 152 of whom were actively gambling. The same month, the PFDK suspended 149 referees and assistant referees for periods ranging from eight to twelve months.
In November 2025, the TFF referred 1,024 players to the PFDK, including 27 from the Süper Lig, and postponed matches in the third and fourth divisions for two weeks. Then, in December 2025, the TFF referred a further 353 referees and 75 regional match observers.
The Istanbul Public Prosecutor’s Office is conducting a parallel criminal investigation into illegal betting and match-fixing, which has led to the imprisonment of several top players and club officials.
Recently, the Turkish authorities arrested the head and six members of the country’s main referees’ committee on charges of interfering with refereeing procedures.
