The betting scandal in Turkey continues to spread. After already suspending numerous referees, the association has now banned over 100 players from the top two professional leagues.
The betting scandal in Turkey continues to spread. At the end of October, Ibrahim Haciosmanoglu, president of the Turkish Football Federation (TFF), announced that 371 of the 571 referees working in professional leagues had betting accounts and that 152 of them had actually placed bets. Shortly afterwards, the association announced the suspension of 149 referees.
However, it has long been clear that not only referees, but also players and numerous other officials from professional clubs are involved in the scandal. Just a few days ago, a court in Istanbul issued arrest warrants for eight suspects. Among them is Murat Özkaya, president of Eyüpspor, which is currently second from bottom in the SüperLig.
As was announced on Thursday, the TFF has taken further action and has now imposed initial sanctions on 102 of the more than 1,000 players who are currently suspended for the duration of the investigation on suspicion of match-fixing.
The suspensions range from 45 days to 12 months. Those affected include 25 players from the SüperLig and 77 professionals from the second highest division, as listed by the association on its website.
Former Osnabrück player Sangaré suspended for 45 days
Among them is Galatasaray’s junior national team player Metehan Baltaci (nine months), who, according to the state news agency Anadolu, admitted to having placed a bet several years ago “without really understanding the extent of the matter.” He later realized “that such behavior is not in keeping with a sporting attitude” and therefore stopped.
His club colleague Eren Elmali, who has played 20 times for the national team and has already played four times in the Champions League this season, has also been suspended and is therefore not allowed to play alongside Leroy Sané and Ilkay Gündogan for 45 days.
Nazim Sangaré, who was born in Cologne, was also suspended for the same number of days. The 31-year-old German-Turkish player started his career in the Regionalliga West for Alemannia Aachen and Fortuna Düsseldorf II before moving to Osnabrück. Sangaré played 38 games in the 3. Liga and one in the DFB-Pokal for VfL before moving to Turkey in the summer of 2017. Since August, the defender has been under contract with Gaziantep FK, who are seventh in the SüperLig. Sangaré has played six times for the Turkish national team.
