Gaziantep Betting Scandal Resurfaces Amid Claims of TFF Double Standards

As debates intensify in Turkish football surrounding illegal betting, match-fixing, and illicit finance, a four-year-old incident involving current Galatasaray goalkeeper Günay Güvenç is back in the spotlight. Despite Güvenç’s high-profile transfer and his public claim of being a “victim of fraud,” the re-examination of the scandal underscores the persistent lack of transparency plaguing the Turkish football sector.

The 2021 Incident: A ‘Scam Trap’ Exceeding ₺190,000

In April 2021, three Gaziantep FK players—Günay Güvenç, Enver Cenk Şahin, and Bilal Başacıkoğlu—were suspended from the squad following allegations of betting involvement.

Güvenç, speaking during a television broadcast at the time, vehemently denied the betting claims, asserting that the events began with a friend attempting to play “tombala/backgammon tournaments” on what was later revealed to be an illicit website.

Güvenç claimed:

• After initially transferring ₺10,000 (Turkish Lira) to the site to assist his friend, the operators, upon realizing his identity as a professional footballer, allegedly refused to refund the money and continuously demanded further payments under various pretexts.

• He insisted he was trying to recover his friend’s money, but the process spiraled into an elaborate fraud scheme.

• To manage the escalating payments, which totalled over ₺190,000, Güvenç admitted to asking teammates Enver Cenk Şahin and Bilal Başacıkoğlu to make transfers on his behalf, exploiting their “relationship of trust”. He claimed both players made the transfers without knowing the final destination of the funds, trusting Güvenç’s promise of immediate repayment.

• Güvenç asserted that when the scammers attempted to push him into placing coupons on the legal betting site nesine.com, he refused and initiated legal proceedings.

The Shadow of the Scandal Follows a Star Transfer

While the Gaziantep FK management stated the 2021 suspension was merely for “protection,” the ultimate outcome of this high-value and questionable financial transaction remains publicly unclear.

Four years after the incident, Günay Güvenç’s transfer to Galatasaray, one of Turkey’s largest clubs, raises questions about the due diligence conducted on players with such a contentious financial history.

The public questions whether Güvenç’s claimed “victim status” was ever legally proven, or if the TFF’s administrative penalty (issued merely for ‘placing a bet’) was considered sufficient closure for such a significant scandal prior to his move. The re-emergence of this case highlights how critical the tracking of past misconduct is for maintaining a clean and transparent structure in Turkish football.

Is the TFF Applying a Double Standard? Why Has the Old Scandal Not Been Re-examined?

Given the Turkish Football Federation’s (TFF) recent hard-line stance in current illegal betting investigations, which has resulted in suspensions for several players, the fate of the Günay Güvenç case raises serious concerns about potential double standards.

It is highly questioned why this older incident—which involved substantially higher sums of money and included claims of fraud and blackmail at its core—is not subject to a renewed and thorough TFF investigation. The re-ignition of this scandal underscores the critical necessity for Turkish football to proactively address and resolve all past instances of financial impropriety and ethical misconduct.

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Video Source: Bahis skandalının aktörleri Günay Güvenç, Bilal Başacıkoğlu, Enver Cenk Şahin iddialara yanıt verdi (TV100 – 2021)