15 tickets, the same winning bet » The betting scandal spread to European matches: how the arrested footballer acted
Article by Daniel Grigore – Published Thursday, December 11, 2025, 11:38 / Updated Thursday, December 11, 2025 11:39
As the sports betting investigation expands with the arrests of footballers in the Turkish premier league, local media present new details, including suspicious betting on European cup matches! It is about games played by Fenerbahçe in the Europa League. The “brain” behind the operation, midfielder Mert Hakan Yandaș, arrested pending investigation.
One of the games is Slavia Prague – Fenerbahce 1-2, in the Europa League group. The match took place on November 28, 2024.
According to the Sabah newspaper, Ersen Dikmen, a key name in the betting case, a member of Fenerbahce's Congress, bet on that match that midfielder Ismail Yuksek would “receive a booking” and “commit at least 3 fouls”, which subsequently happened.
Dikmen placed those bets with money received from a Fener footballer, Mert Hakan Yandaș. In other words, it was the “screen” through which Yandaș sought to enrich himself. Dikmen and Yandaș were arrested pending trial.
15 tickets, same winning bet » The Turkish betting scandal has spread to European matches!
According to investigators, Dikmen placed 15 separate tickets, all with the same bet: minimum 3 fouls committed by Ismail Yuksek, at odds of 1.73. They were all winners, with Yuksek fouling out 5 times.
The investigation shows that Dikmen received £4.45m between 2021 and 2025, money with which he immediately replenished the accounts opened at different betting houses. At the current exchange rate, that amount is equivalent to 89,000 euros.
He was going to end the match without a card, so he looked for it in '90+8!
The second match that came to the attention of the investigators is Fenerbahce – Stuttgart 1-0, played on October 23, 2025.
In that game, Dikmen bet 3 tickets that Ismail Yuksek will get a card, the odds being 2.93, according to TumSpor. Fener's midfielder received that card in the 90+8th minute, after arguing with an opponent!
31-year-old Mert Hakan Yandaș has been with Fenerbahce since August 2020. He has played 149 times for the Istanbul club, contributing 11 goals and 25 assists. Ismail Yuksek, 26 years old, belongs to Fener since 2020. He was loaned for several seasons in a row, and in the summer of 2022 he permanently remained in the team.
