Turkey’s Football Federation chief on Monday denied any involvement in a scandal that has seen the country’s top refereeing official and several others arrested on graft charges.

Ferhat Gundogdu, head of the Central Referees Committee (MHK), and four others were on Saturday jailed pending trial on charges of manipulating the referee administration process.

They appeared before a judge at Istanbul’s Caglayan courthouse on several charges, including “official document forgery”, “breach of trust” and “illegal acquisition of personal data”.

The case appears to be linked to a vast illegal betting network that came to light a year ago.

“Don’t try and pin 30 years of corruption in football on me,” TFF President Ibrahim Haciosmanoglu told Hurriyet newspaper in an interview.

“Let no-one try to blame me and my colleagues on the board… for the corruption, decay and lack of ethics that have existed in Turkish football for 15, 20 or perhaps 30 years,” said Haciosmanoglu, who has held the role for just over two years.

“For the future of Turkish football, we will be prepared, if necessary, not only to do our part but to assume the full weight of responsibility.”

Two other referees officiating in Turkey’s top-flight Super Lig, who were detained on Thursday night, were placed in pre-trial detention on Monday by an Istanbul court, media reports said.

Last week, Turkish media leaked an exchange of WhatsApp and other messages between the TFF chief and Gundogdu, suggesting a possible manipulation of referee ranking and promotion processes, as well as alleged preferential treatment.

Justice Minister Akin Gurlek has said prosecutors are examining claims about “interference in the processes of referee classification, assignments, scoring and appointments, as well as the exams on rules”.

The scandal came exactly a year after the TFF suspended 149 referees on charges of illegal betting.

In an investigation involving 571 referees from the professional leagues, the TFF found 371 had sports betting accounts and 152 were actively placing bets.

Sports journalist Ayhan Sensoy, who wrote a 2024 book on the subject called “The Gambling Pit”, told AFP on Friday the arrests appeared to be a continuation of last year’s betting scandal, saying he doubted the current federation bosses had “any chance of staying in office.”

The Turkish Super Lig has attracted big-name signings, including Egyptian superstar Mohamed Salah, who joined Trabzonspor from Liverpool in August.

AFP