She came out on top after the “sex tape” scandal » Suspended from football, her content is now watched by more than 700,000 people
Article by Andra Mocanu – Published Wednesday, March 18, 2026, 11:17 / Updated Wednesday, March 18, 2026 11:17
Elif Karaarslan (25 years old), former assistant referee in Turkey, who found himself at the center of a scandal a year and a half agois now using his popularity on social media, where he attracts attention with his physical appearance.
On October 9, 2024, the Turkish football world was rocked by a “sex tape” scandal. A video recording in which the Turkish woman appears in poses prohibited for minors with the UEFA observer of referees Orhan Erdemir (61 years old) was distributed in the virtual space. Because of this incident, the Turkish Football Federation made the decision to permanently exclude both of them from football.
At the time, the arbitrator defended himself and claimed that the images were rigged with the help of artificial intelligence and that he would go to court to get justice.
PHOTO. Referee Elif Karaarslan gained 400,000 followers after the “sex tape” scandal
After the scandal, she decided to take advantage of the acquired popularity. Before the incident, she had about 300,000 followers on Instagram, while now their number has increased to almost 700,000.
Her name remains one of the most searched on the Internet in Turkey. Although she has never refereed in the first league of Turkish football, many consider her one of the most attractive female presences in the world of refereeing.
Elif Karaarslan: “I will overcome this moment in the strongest way”
The Turkish media wrote that “it would have been proven that the video in question was distributed from a fake account, opened under the name Elif Karaarslan. The referee, whose career was at the beginning, after she was forced to give up that of a soccer player due to a serious injury, emphasized in her post on this topic that “it seems devoid of any sense and reason that these images are shared from my own account.”
Born in Istanbul, Elif also stated that “I will have a long way to go legally, but I will overcome it in the strongest possible way. I look forward to your full support and love in this process.”
