One referee placed 18,227 bets. Now Turkish football is in full meltdown.

Lower-tier matches are paused, an emergency transfer window is under discussion, and names from Galatasaray and Beşiktaş are emerging as the TFF vows a complete clean-up.

The Turkish Football Federation suspended 1,024 players pending investigation. Twenty-seven play in the Süper Lig. Prosecutors have arrested eight suspects and keep issuing more warrants. Players from Galatasaray and Beşiktaş are caught up in it. Now the federation is asking FIFA for a 15-day emergency transfer window—clubs need bodies to fill the gaps. Third- and fourth-tier matches went dark for two weeks.

The referee problem broke first. Authorities suspended 149 officials after finding that 371 of 571 active referees had betting accounts. A hundred fifty-two of them bet on football—sometimes on matches they were refereeing. One ref allegedly placed 18,227 bets. TFF president İbrahim Hacıosmanoğlu called it a “moral crisis in Turkish football” and vowed to “purge [the game] of all its filth.”

Galatasaray left back Eren Elmalı says his case involves a single bet from about five years ago on a match that didn’t involve his team. He was removed from Turkey’s national-team camp while authorities review it. Some of these are old, one-off bets. Others show people betting constantly. That’ll matter when punishments land.

Most of the suspended players are in the lower leagues—that’s why those divisions shut down. The Süper Lig is still playing, but clubs say losing this many players at once will wreck the competition unless they can sign emergency replacements.

The shadow of 2013

This isn’t new. In 2013, UEFA banned Fenerbahçe from European competition for two seasons—Beşiktaş got one—after investigators dug into 2011 match-fixing allegations. Both clubs appealed to CAS and lost. Fans spent years wondering which results were legitimate.

Mourinho joined Fenerbahçe knowing all this. Months before this scandal exploded, he blasted refereeing standards in Turkey, saying the league “smells bad.” He followed up: “I didn’t believe. It’s even worse than I was told.” Those remarks earned him fines and a suspension, but they look prophetic now.

Now it’s about sorting through the mess. Prosecutors have arrested eight people so far—including a top-flight club chairman—and more warrants are out. The TFF says suspensions are precautionary while they figure out who bet what, when, and whether anyone bet on matches they could affect. If the two-week freeze holds and FIFA signs off on an emergency transfer window, the league can at least keep matches running while they work through the cases.