Eren Elmali and Mehetan Baltaci, part of Galatasaray’s high-flying UEFA Champions League squad, are among 1,024 players to be suspended by the Turkish Football Federation (TFF) as part of a country-wide investigation into illegal football betting. Elmali, a left-back who came on as a second-half substitute when Galatasaray beat Liverpool, has also been withdrawn from the Turkey squad due to play World Cup qualifying matches against Spain and Bulgaria.
Besiktas, Galatasaray’s Istanbul rivals, have also been impacted by the investigation, with Necip Uysal and Ersin Destanoglu along those named in the lengthy list.
A TTF statement said that each player on the list had bet on football matches and were being probed by the Professional Football Disciplinary Board (PFDK). A media release from Galatasaray said they would be ‘meticulously monitoring’ the process, while Besiktas said they had full faith that an investigation would clear their duo of any transgressions.
In all, 27 players from the Turkish Super Lig, the country’s top tier, have been suspended, while 77 of those named played in 1. Lig, the second division. The TFF has requested FIFA to extend the winter transfer window by 15 day so that clubs can adequately fill the gaps in their squads.
This is not the first betting scandal to hit Turkish football this season. In October, as many as 149 match officials had been suspended for between eight and 12 months, with dozens found to have active betting accounts.
“I want to make it clear that my name is included in this file because of a betting transaction made about five years ago involving someone other than my own team,” wrote Elmali on his Instagram account on Monday. “Since then, I have neither bet nor had any connection to this matter.”
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