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Ferhat Gundogdu, the head of the Turkish Football Federation's Central Refereeing Committee, was arrested on Saturday along with four other figures from Türkiye's refereeing establishment as an investigation into alleged irregularities involving referee appointments, classifications and internal practices deepened.
A court ordered the arrest of Gundogdu, Ferdi Karadoruk, Yunus Yildirim, Alican Saglar and Emre Kosif as part of the investigation widely known as the "referees file." Ahmet Sahin and Sebahattin Sahin were released under judicial control and barred from leaving the country.
The investigation is being carried out by the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office's Illegal Betting and Sports Crimes Bureau and has examined allegations including misconduct involving official documents, abuse of trust and the unlawful handling of personal data.
The arrests put several senior figures from the structure overseeing Turkish refereeing directly at the center of a criminal investigation, raising the stakes for the Turkish Football Federation, or TFF, at a time when the case has already begun to expose allegations over how referees were evaluated, promoted and assigned.
Gundogdu heads the Central Refereeing Committee, known by its Turkish abbreviation MHK, the body responsible for overseeing referees and appointments in Turkish professional football.
Karadoruk heads the association representing active referees and observers, while Yildirim previously served on the MHK. Saglar holds an organizational role within the referees and observers association's Istanbul branch, and Kosif heads Istanbul's provincial referee board.
The two figures released under judicial control also held senior positions within the refereeing structure. Ahmet Sahin previously served as MHK deputy chairman, while Sebahattin Sahin has served as an MHK member and a TFF official responsible for education and the federation's fourth region.
The prosecutor's investigation has drawn on open-source material, financial intelligence findings, telecommunications records, witness and complainant statements and expert examinations, according to information previously disclosed about the case.
The investigation took on an additional institutional dimension after reports said digital material seized from Gundogdu contained correspondence with TFF President Ibrahim Ethem Haciosmanoglu concerning referees and appointment processes.
According to reports on the material, investigators identified messages involving a list allegedly connected to favorable treatment for certain referees in return for support provided to the association representing active football referees and observers. The reported correspondence remains part of the investigation and has not been established as a final judicial finding.
Other reported material from the digital examination also concerned referee assignments, adding further scrutiny to the relationship between the federation's leadership and the body responsible for appointing match officials.
Gundogdu has rejected accusations that he subjected referees to pressure or unfair treatment.
In his statement to prosecutors, he said decisions that had long been taken as part of the ordinary administration of refereeing had been turned into subjects of the investigation and argued that mistreating or mobbing officials was incompatible with his character.
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"I have always kept an equal distance from everyone for the sake of my duty," he said, according to the statement cited in reports.
The case has also examined allegations surrounding referee examinations, classification decisions and appointments, including claims that some officials were subjected to pressure.
The investigation has also created uncertainty over MHK's future management.
Reports said the other eight board members had previously submitted advance resignation letters, while Gundogdu had not given the same undertaking.
Under Article 43 of the TFF's statute, board members cannot simply be removed unless they resign, leaving the federation facing a potential administrative problem as the criminal investigation moves forward.
Names including former international referee Anthony Taylor and Mustafa Kamil Abitoglu have since been discussed in the Turkish sports media as possible alternatives for the leadership of the refereeing body, although no appointment has been announced.
The arrests now move the investigation beyond allegations surrounding internal football administration and into a court-ordered detention process involving the sitting head of the body responsible for Türkiye's referees.
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