The Disciplinary Board of the TFF (Turkish Football Federation) suspended, this Thursday (13), 102 players, including 25 from the first division, accused of betting on matches, a practice prohibited for football players.
The suspensions range from 45 days to 12 months, detailed the TFF, which on Monday had accused 1,024 players, mostly from the third and fourth division, of having bet.
Two players from Galatasaray, the current three-time champion of Turkey, are among the 102 punished: Turkish national team player Eren Elmali, who received a 45-day suspension, and Metehan Baltaci, suspended for nine months.
Elmali, 25, acknowledged having bet almost five years ago, when he played in the fourth division.
Konyaspor’s Senegalese striker Alassane Ndao, the only foreign player involved, has been suspended for 12 months, TFF said.
The Amedspor club, currently third in the second division championship, announced that it had terminated the contracts of five of its players punished by the TFF.
The federation did not reveal whether any of the 102 punished players had bet on games in which they were participating.
At the end of October, the TFF had already suspended 149 referees who also placed bets on matches, with punishments ranging from eight to 12 months. Six of them were provisionally detained on Monday, as part of a judicial investigation.
