A Turkish footballer and the head of a Turkish soccer team were arrested Thursday within the scope of an investigation on match-fixing.

Recep Ozturk, the goalkeeper of Turkish team Konyaspor, and Temel Eyupoglu, the chairman of Tepecikspor soccer club, were arrested in Istanbul on charges of match-fixing.

Ozturk and Eyupoglu were sent to Metris prison.

Earlier on Thursday, Turkish prosecutors also asked a court to accept charges against former international defender Fatih Akyel in connection with a match-fixing probe, state-run news agency Anatolian reported.

Akyel was arrested on charges of "being a member of a gang" and "fraud", his attorney said.

Akyel, part of the Turkish team which came third at the 2002 World Cup, was among people including footballers from the country's top division detained on Wednesday.

Authorities released some of them after questioning on Thursday but prosecutors also asked a court to bring charges against a second man, Anatolian said.

Among those released were Arif Erdem, a deputy trainer of top-division Istanbul club Buyuksehir Belediyespor and Taner Gulleri, a striker with the club.

Erdem, also a former national team player, told Turkish broadcaster NTV he was not involved in any wrongdoing, but had been held because he was named in an indictment.

The Turkish Football Federation (TFF) confirmed an investigation by Istanbul prosecutors was underway and said in a statement it had filed a complaint about suspected match-fixing and manipulation with prosecutors in Istanbul's Sariyer district court last August.

The TFF added the probe was not related to an investigation into a huge match-fixing ring exposed by prosecutors in the German city of Bochum last November, although information from that investigation had been passed on to Turkish authorities.

The ring in Bochum involved 200 matches, 29 of which were from Turkey's first-division.

Turkish security forces detained 57 people in connection with match-fixing earlier this week.


Agencies