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Sport

Turkish court remands football refereeing chief Ferhat Gundogdu in custody pending corruption trial

Ferhat Gundogdu, head of Turkey's Central Referees Committee, and four others were placed in pre-trial detention on Friday over alleged manipulation of the referee administration process; two others were granted conditional release.

By Tom Ellery · · 1 min read

A Turkish court has placed Ferhat Gundogdu, the head of the country’s football refereeing body, and four others in pre-trial detention as part of a corruption investigation, state news agency Anadolu reported on Saturday.

Gundogdu, head of the Central Referees Committee, and six others appeared on Friday before a judge at Istanbul’s Caglayan courthouse over allegations of manipulation of the referee administration process. They face charges including forgery of official documents, breach of trust and illegal acquisition of personal data. The judge remanded five in custody and granted the other two conditional release.

It is the latest scandal to shake football in Turkiye, coming exactly a year after the Turkish Football Federation (TFF) suspended 149 referees on charges of illegal betting. On Thursday night, police from the illegal betting and sports crime unit also detained Yasin Kol, a referee from Turkiye’s top-flight Super Lig, as well as an assistant referee, according to media reports.

Justice Minister Akin Gurlek said prosecutors are examining claims about “interference in the processes of referee classification, assignments, scoring and appointments as well as the exams on rules”. Police searched the VAR room at TFF headquarters in Istanbul during raids on Tuesday.

“It does seem to be a continuation of 2025, and it looks like it will continue further,” sports journalist Ayhan Sensoy told the AFP news agency. Sensoy, who wrote a 2024 book on the issue called The Gambling Pit, said it was unlikely that federation bosses “have any chance of staying in office”.

The TFF has not directly addressed the arrests; its top officials were due home on Saturday after attending Friday night’s Belgium-Turkiye UEFA Nations League clash in Liege, which Turkiye lost 3-0.

More on this topic: all Sport stories

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