Football authorities in Turkey have launched disciplinary action after discovering 152 referees were actively gambling, following repeated outbursts from Jose Mourinho about the dire state of officiating during his tenure at Fenerbahce. The Special One was an outspoken critic of refereeing standards, once declaring he would have rejected the position had he known in advance, and now the nation’s governing bodies have exposed a significant problem after years of investigation.
A probe covering five years has revealed that amongst the 571 officials working across the country, 371 possessed betting accounts. Of those, 152 were engaged in active gambling. Whilst some had placed just a solitary wager, 42 others had staked bets on more than 1,000 fixtures.
The most shocking case revealed one referee had gambled 18,227 times. Seven of the officials work within Turkey’s Super Lig and second division.
The top two tiers also include 15 assistant referees from the probe.
Mourinho’s exasperation at “fighting the system” has proven prophetic following the investigation, which has compromised numerous referees.
However, no evidence suggests any match involving Mourinho’s Fenerbahce was affected by referee betting.
He previously stated: “We are not fighting the opposing team, we are fighting the system. And fighting the system is the hardest thing. Before coming to Turkey I heard these stories, but honestly I didn’t believe them. But after actually coming here, it was much more serious than what I heard.
“I have complaints about the people at Fenerbahce who brought me here. They told half the truth and hid the rest. If I had known everything, I wouldn’t have come.”
The Turkish Football Federation (TFF) is now poised to hand out sanctions after launching disciplinary proceedings.
Their rulebook stipulates that officials who place wagers face suspensions of up to a year.
However, FIFA regulations are even more severe and the referees implicated could also face three-year football-wide bans and fines of nearly £95,000.
TFF president Ethem Haciosmanoglu declared: “If we want to bring Turkish football to the place it deserves, we have to clean up whatever dirt there is.”
Fenerbahce president Sadettin Saran added: “This is both shocking and deeply saddening for Turkish football, but the face that it is coming to light is a hopeful development.”