Turkish authorities ordered the arrest of 46 people, including 29 soccer players, on Friday as part of a wide-ranging investigation into match-fixing, the Istanbul prosecutor’s office said.
Of the 29 players, authorities suspect 27 of betting on matches involving their own team, the prosecutor’s office said in a statement.
Among them is Metehan Baltaci, a player of Galatasaray, the current three-time Turkish champion, and the prosecution did not reveal the identities of the other 26 involved players.
Mert Hakan Yandas, a player of Fenerbahçe, another big Istanbul club, is suspected of betting on various matches through a third party.
Prosecutors, who said 35 of the 46 wanted people had been arrested so far, also ordered the arrest of the presidents of two clubs suspected of “trying to influence the outcome” of a match between them in the third division in the 2023/2024 season.
The investigation by the Istanbul Prosecutor’s Office, which is rocking Turkish football, has already led to the imprisonment of six referees and the president of Eyüpspor, a first-division club, in early November.
The Turkish Football Federation (TFF), which claims it wants to “clean up” Turkish football, suspended nearly 150 referees days earlier after they were found guilty of betting on matches.
Twenty-five players in the first division and almost 1,000 others playing in the second, third and fourth divisions were also handed suspensions of up to twelve months in November.
