Turkey orders arrest of 29 footballers in betting scandal

The Istanbul public prosecutor’s office said Friday it had ordered the arrest of 46 people, among them 29 footballer players, as part of a sprawling investigation into illegal betting on Turkish matches.

Among the arrested players, 27 are suspected of having bet on matches involving their own teams, the prosecutor’s office said in a statement.

One was Metehan Baltaci, who plays for reigning Turkish champions Galatasaray, it said. He had earlier this month been suspended for nine months over the betting scandal.

The investigation has rocked Turkish football, and earlier this month, six referees were placed in pre-trial detention, along with the president of Eyupspor, a club in Turkey’s Super Lig top division.

Prosecutors did not identify the other 26 players suspected of bets involving their own teams, but they said Mert Hakan Yandas, who plays for Fenerbahce, another major Istanbul club, had placed bets through someone else’s account.

The prosecutor’s office said police had so far detained 35 of the 46 people named in the arrest order.

Two club presidents were among those targeted by the order for “attempting to influence the outcome” of a match between their two third-division teams in the 2023-2024 season, the statement said.

So far, the Turkish football federation (TFF) has suspended more than 1,000 Turkish players and nearly 150 referees in the scandal.

Of the players, 25 were in the Super Lig, with the suspensions ranging from 45 days to 12 months, the TFF said.

Only one was a foreign national — Konyaspor’s Senegalese winger Alassane Ndao, who was suspended for 12 months.