Eight people have been arrested in Turkiye and more than 1,000 players have been suspended as a wide-ranging investigation into alleged betting on football matches rocks the country’s football federation.

Turkish authorities formally arrested Eyupspor Chairman Murat Ozkaya, a top-tier club chairman, and seven others on Monday, while the Turkish Football Federation (TFF) suspended 1,024 players pending disciplinary investigations. Of the suspended players, 27 compete in the country’s top-tier Super Lig, notably Galatasaray defender Eren Elmali, who also represents the Turkish national team.

In a statement Galatasaray said it was “monitoring” the process and waiting for the investigation to be completed. Elmali said that his suspension was linked to a bet made on a team that was not his own five years ago, and that he had not made a bet since.

Those swept up in the probe are accused of abuse of power and match-fixing, among other charges.

The scandal came to light at the end of October, when the TFF announced that an investigation had revealed that 371 of the 571 active referees in its professional leagues had betting accounts, and 152 of them were actively gambling.

One referee had bet 18,227 times and 42 referees had bet on more than 1,000 football matches each. Others were found to have bet only once.

The third and fourth divisions in Turkiye, in which more than 900 of the suspected players compete, have been suspended for the last two weeks.

The moves come after the TFF earlier this month suspended 149 referees and assistant referees after an investigation found that the officials working in the country’s professional leagues were betting on football matches.

TFF President Ibrahim Haciosmanoglu has described the situation as a “moral crisis in Turkish football”. (ALJAZEERA)