Turkish football in crisis as referee chief is detained
TFF says police examined VAR room as referee chief detained
Turkish football has been hit by another major refereeing controversy after Ferhat Gundogdu, the head of the country’s Central Referees Committee, was remanded in custody as part of an ongoing investigation.
According to an AFP report, citing Turkey’s state run Anadolu news agency, Gundogdu was among seven officials who appeared before a judge in Istanbul over allegations involving the administration of referees.
Five of them were remanded in custody, while two were released under judicial controls.
The investigation is being handled by the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office and its Illegal Betting and Sports Crimes Bureau.
Justice Minister Akın Gurlek said authorities were examining allegations of interference in referee classifications, assignments, scoring, appointments and rules examinations.
Anadolu reported that the wider investigation also includes allegations involving official document forgery, breach of trust and the unlawful acquisition of personal data.
These remain allegations and the legal process is continuing.
What happened in the VAR room?
This is where the story becomes more complicated.
The Turkish Football Federation said that officers from Istanbul’s Financial Crimes Investigation Branch carried out an examination inside the VAR room at the federation’s Riva headquarters.
The TFF also denied separate claims circulating online that digital material had been deleted and later recovered by police technicians.
However, the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office later issued its own statement saying it had not ordered any examination of the VAR room or VAR records as part of the investigation.
That means it would be wrong at this stage to suggest investigators have found evidence that VAR decisions or specific matches were manipulated.
The publicly reported allegations are centred on how referees were classified, assessed and appointed.
What happens next?
The fallout has already reached the top of Turkish refereeing.
The Turkish Football Federation confirmed on Saturday that Gundogdu had been detained and said work was under way to form a new Central Referees Committee.
Until the new committee is appointed, existing members will handle referee appointments for upcoming Turkish Cup matches.
The latest investigation comes after Turkish football was rocked by a separate betting scandal in 2025, when the federation suspended 149 referees over illegal betting allegations.
For now, the biggest question is how far the latest investigation will go and whether more names will be drawn into the case.
