In the “Referees file” investigation conducted by the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office’s Bureau for Illegal Betting and Sports Crimes, the offenses of “ill-treatment,” “forgery of official documents,” “breach of trust” and “unlawful acquisition of personal data” are being examined. In an operation carried out in Istanbul, Ankara, Elazığ and Manisa, MHK Chairman Ferhat Gündoğdu, TFF Active Referees Association Chairman Ferdi Karadoruk, former TFF Central Referee Board executives Ahmet Şahin and Yunus Yıldırım, as well as Sebahattin Şahin, Alican Sağlar and Emre Kosif, were detained. Gündoğdu, Kosif, Karadoruk, Yıldırım and Sağlar were arrested. A travel ban and a signing requirement were imposed on Sebahattin Şahin and Ahmet Şahin. It was reported that Süper Lig referee Yasin Kol and assistant referee Göktuğ Hazar Erel were also detained. The investigation used open-source research, MASAK and HTS analyses, statements and expert findings.
Why it matters
The scope of the case shows that the allegations in the field of refereeing are not limited solely to decisions made on the pitch, but extend to different legal areas such as treatment of individuals, official records, relationships of trust and the use of personal data. The involvement of MHK and TFF Active Referees Association executives, as well as former board executives, indicates that the investigation has brought the functioning of institutions into question beyond individual conduct. Since open-source reviews, MASAK and HTS analyses, statements and expert assessments are being conducted together, different types of information are expected to be compared in the case. However, it has not yet become clear which allegations these data support or what the investigation’s final legal outcome will be.
Background
Referees are not a new name in the FikirPilot archive: we have published 2 reports mentioning this name in the past 90 days; the latest is dated September 30, 2026.