The issue of match fixing in association football has been described, in 2013, by Chris Eaton, the former Head of Security of FIFA (the sport's world governing body), as a "crisis", [1] while UEFA's president Michel Platini has said that if it continues, "football is dead". [2] Zhang Jilong, president of the Asian Football Confederation, has stated that it is a "pandemic". [3] The issue also affects a number of other sports across the world. [4]
In May 2011, world governing body FIFA announced an anti-match fixing plan, [5] and in September 2012 FIFA President Sepp Blatter warned that match-fixing endangered "the integrity of the game". [6] In September 2014, the Council of Europe also announced they would tackle the problem. [7]
A number of clubs in countries across the world have been subject to match fixing, including Australia, [8] [9] China, [10] and Spain. [11] [12] The South African national team has also been investigated. [13]
In the 18 months prior to February 2013, Europol investigated 680 matches in 30 countries. [14] In November 2013, 11 men were charged in Estonia with fixing 17 matches. [15]
The problem is often attributed to criminal gangs based in Asia, [16] [17] [18] who generate "hundreds of billions of euros per year". [19]
Players who have publicly rejected bribes have been praised, such as in a case in Belize. [20]
In September 2018, the BBC reported on match fixing in Algerian football. [21] [22]
On 30 November 2017, Keshla FK confirmed that they had terminated the contracts of Nizami Hajiyev and Mirhüseyn Seyidov due to suspicion of match manipulating, [23] with both also being arrested. [24] The following day, 1 December 2017, both Hajiyev and Seyidov were banned from all footballing activities by the AFFA. [25] In December 2019, Jamshid Maharramov was arrested in relation to match-fixing allegations that saw him banned from football by the AFFA in 2017. [26]
On 29 August 2021, Arambagh KS were found guilty of spot-fixing, match manipulations and live and online betting. The Bangladesh Football Federation disciplinary committee fined 5 lakhs BDT and banned Arambagh from entering the second-tier, the Bangladesh Championship League for two years. The club would have to enter domestic football again through the third-tier, the Dhaka Senior Division Football League. [27]
In October 2018, 14 people, including two referees, were arrested and charged with bribery involving two relegation battles in a match-fixing investigation. [28]
In April 2019 ex-Benin international Séïdath Tchomogo was one of four African former international footballers banned for life by FIFA due to "match manipulation". [29]
In October 2024, the Parliamentary Inquiry Commission (CPI) on Sports Betting requested the Brazilian Football Confederation to conduct an investigation into reports of suspicious incidents during the matches between Palmeiras vs. Fortaleza, Vitória vs. Fluminense, and the swift expulsion of Cruzeiro's striker Rafa Silva in the match against Atlético Paranaense. All these events took place on 26 October. [30]
The Canadian Soccer League (CSL) is an unsanctioned semi-professional league in Canada, formerly sanctioned by the Canadian Soccer Association (CSA). Despite its name, the CSL is not a national league as the teams are located solely in Southern Ontario. On 12 September 2012, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation reported that a CSL game held in September 2009 was fixed. [31] On 31 January 2013, the CSA announced it was decertifying the league. [32] Following the 2013 announcement, the Canadian MLS teams Toronto FC and Montreal Impact both withdrew their academy teams, Toronto FC Academy and Montreal Impact Academy from participation in the CSL.
The CSL continued to operate after decertification by the CSA. The International Centre for Sport Security (ICSS) later reported that 42% of matches in the "rogue league's" 2015 season showed signs of suspicious betting activity. [33] In 2016, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police opened investigations in the alleged CSL match fixing. [34]
The "Five Jia B Rats incident" was a series of match fixing incidents that involved five football teams in the final rounds of the 2001 second-tier Jia B League (present day China League One). Referee Gong Jianping served 18 months in prison before dying of leukemia. [35]
From 2009 to 2011, a large-scale 2009–2013 investigation by the Ministry of Public Security of China revealed many match-fixing scandals that occurred mainly between 2003 and 2009 in Chinese top-two tier leagues. As a result, Shanghai Shenhua was stripped of their 2003 top-tier league title. [36] Former vice presidents of Chinese Football Association Xie Yalong, Nan Yong and Yang Yimin were sentenced to 10.5 years in jail. [37] [38] FIFA World Cup referee Lu Jun, and China national football team players Shen Si, Jiang Jin, Qi Hong, Li Ming, were sentenced to 5.5 years or 6 years in jail. [39]
In December 2024, Li Tie was jailed for match fixing and bribery. [40]
On 20 September 2013, the Salvadoran Football Federation banned 14 Salvadoran players for life, and three other players for shorter periods, due to their involvement with match fixing while playing with the El Salvador national football team at various matches during the period 2010–2012. [41] Those banned for life were Dennis Alas, Luis Anaya, Darwin Bonilla, Cristian Castillo, Ramón Flores, Marvin González, Miguel Granada, José Henríquez, Reynaldo Hernández, Miguel Montes, Alfredo Pacheco, Dagoberto Portillo, Osael Romero, Ramón Sánchez and Miguel Montes. [41]
The match fixers included some of El Salvador's most noted players. Sánchez had served as the team captain at the 2009 CONCACAF Gold Cup. González had been captain at the 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup, when he and seven other of these players fixed the result in a 5–0 loss to the Mexico national football team. [42] At the time of the ban, Pacheco held the record for most appearances on the El Salvador national football team; he was murdered in 2015 when leaving a bathroom at a gas station in Santa Ana, El Salvador. [43] Castillo (D.C. United) and Romero (Chivas USA) had both played in Major League Soccer. [42]
Six people, including three current players and ex-player Delroy Facey, were arrested in November 2013 on suspicion of match fixing. [44] Two Singaporean men were later charged, [45] while two non-league footballers for Whitehawk were also charged in December 2013. [46] As a result of this investigation, three people were jailed in June 2014. [47]
Later that month, professional footballer Sam Sodje was investigated after he was filmed by an undercover journalist claiming to have fixed matches; a total of six people were arrested, [48] including active player DJ Campbell. [49] Campbell was later cleared of all allegations. [50] Cristian Montaño was also named as one of those arrested, and he was later sacked by club Oldham Athletic. [51] Montaño later denied the accusations. [52] In March 2014 the six players were re-arrested, alongside seven new players, all based in North-West England. [53] The seven new players arrested were later named as John Welsh, Keith Keane, Bailey Wright, David Buchanan, Ben Davies and Graham Cummins (who all play for Preston North End), and Stephen Dawson (who plays for Barnsley); all seven stated they were innocent. [54] The men were late released from bail. [55] In January 2015 all 13 players were released without charge. [56]
Representatives from a number of sports met in December 2013 to discuss the issue, [57] while former player Alan Shearer stated there should be a "zero tolerance" approach to the problem. [58] Darren Bailey of the FA also stated that the country's gambling laws did not help in tackling match fixing in the sport. [59]
In June 2014, it was announced that 13 games were believed to have been fixed in British football during the 2013–14 season. [60]
On 1 September 2014 former professional player Delroy Facey was charged over alleged match fixing. [61] The trial began in April 2015, when he was accused of being a "middleman" for others who had already been convicted of the crime. [62] After being found guilty later that month he was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in jail. [63]
In October 2022, non-league player Kynan Isaac was banned for 10 years for spot fixing in a FA Cup match. [64]
In November 2014, the presidents of Ligue 2 clubs Caen and Nîmes were amongst several arrested on suspicion of match fixing. The arrests followed a 1–1 draw between Caen and Nîmes in May 2014, a result very beneficial for each club. [65] [66]
In April 2019, Guingamp complained to the LFP about a game between Caen and Angers. The LFP said they were investigating "doubts about the integrity" of the result. [67]
Corruption has long been endemic in Greek football. [68]
In June 2018, prosecutors began investigating Parma in relation to alleged match-fixing. [69] In July 2018 Parma player Emanuele Calaiò received a two-year ban after being found guilty of match fixing for “eliciting reduced effort” through text messages to Spezia players in their final match of the 2017–18 Serie B to gain promotion; Parma received a 5-point deduction for the 2018–19 Serie A. [70] On 9 August, Parma had the 5-point deduction expunged and Calaiò's ban reduced, expiring on 31 December 2018. [71]
In February 2019 ex-international player George Owino was named in a FIFA report that alleged he had been involved in match fixing. [72] In April 2019 Owino was one of four African former international footballers banned for life by FIFA due to "match manipulation". [29]
The 2013 Lebanese match fixing scandal involved 24 players, with two (Ramez Dayoub and Mahmoud El Ali) being banned from the sport for life. [73] [74]
In August 2019 referee Josephus Torjilar was banned for two years for bribery. [75]
In April 2019 ex-Malawi international Hellings Mwakasungula was one of four African former international footballers banned for life by FIFA due to "match manipulation". [29]
On 14 October 2015, the Kathmandu Police arrested five Nepalese national team players suspected of match fixing in the world cup qualifiers 2011. The arrest was based on information coming from AFC and their collaboration with Sportradar Security Services. [76]
In November 2015, these five Nepalese players appeared in court charged with match-fixing. [77]
In 2019, FIFA banned Niger's referee Ibrahim Chaibou for life for match fixing and accepting bribes. [78] Chaibou, who is considered one of the most infamous cases of corruption in association football, [79] was repeatedly called by FIFA to present himself, but he has never left his native Niger since then. [80]
In August 2019 Samson Siasia was handed a lifetime ban by FIFA related to match fixing. [81] He said he would appeal but was in no rush to do so. [82]
In 2004, Polícia Judiciária (Portuguese Judiciary Police) launched the operation Apito Dourado and named several Portuguese club presidents and football personalities as suspects of match fixing, most notably FC Porto's chairman Pinto da Costa. [83] [84] [85] Some of the wiretaps used as proof, which were deemed unusable in court, can be found on YouTube. [86]
Match fixing in Romanian football is called blat (plural blaturi). This term is specifically used in the football domestic competition called Liga I to explain a friendly agreement between two or more presidents of football clubs for fixing matches. Etymologically blat means "dough" and a term for designing clandestine travelling in a city bus (has no plural form). So a blătar fixes matches and a blatist travels without a bus ticket. Blats are more related to the period before the Romanian Revolution of 1989. The Communist local and central administration had a decisive role in designating the teams who will play in the next season in the first division. Hence presidents agreed to help each other to avoid relegation from the first division. This informal and dirty association was called cooperativa (first used in 1992 by former international footballer and current football analyst Cornel Dinu from a term which designated the Communist system of agricultural common association) and was composed by 3 or maximum 5 influential presidents. In 1995 Dumitru Dragomir, a former president of Victoria Bucarest football team and the current long-serving president of the domestic league LPF admitted during a televised debate to being formerly involved in such deals.
After Communism collapsed the phenomenon of Blat was related to the development of informal economy. The media raised awareness about such apparent dealings though thus far never leading to serious investigations for corruption. Many football club owners, especially outside Bucharest, agreed to create an informal association between 3 or 5 owners with the aim of helping each other and involved other teams to join this "gang". That method consist in letting each of the involved teams to win the home matches, accepting to lose the away matches. The most prolific football club chief who was the creator of this cartel is Jean Padureanu (also known as The Lord), president of Gloria Bistriţa, also known in the Romanian media as the Father of Blaturi. The list includes Gheorghe Ştefan (also known as Pinalti), president of Ceahlăul Piatra Neamţ, and Romeo Paşcu (also known as Breakdance), president of FC Brașov. Cornel Dinu also named DIVIZIA A as "championship of Jenel(Padureanu), Romel(Pascu)and Fanel(Stefan)" because these three chiefs had more influence in the decision of results. During 1999 and 2001 the team of Rocar owned by former Securitate officer and Ceauşescu bodyguard Gheorghe (Gigi) Netoiu was named as "champion of blaturi" in local media. [87] [88]
The period between 1992 and 2002 has been described by some as the "blat" era of Romanian football. After this period the Liga 1 clubs saw some of the poorest results for Romanian teams in European Competitions.
During these years there was no punitive measure taken by central football authority organisms like FRF (the Romanian Football Federation) or LPF (the Romanian Professional Football League) to stop it. After the Romanian football was ranked as the cheapest and one of the less spectacular championships in the world[ citation needed ], new club owners decided to remove their clubs from such agreements with the potential of playing competitively again. In 2003 after losing qualification for the second final football tournament, the president of the club FCM Bacău Dumitru Sechelariu admitted on a live football talk show equally that he was strongly involved in fixed matches and that there was an association of two or three presidents who did the same, proposing to stop these practice. This was a turning and a decisive point in the eradication of the blat policy. After that, the number of fixed matches decreased and many domestic championship results were again the consequence of fair matches. The press admitted that competitive run during the 2005-2006 European of Romanian teams was a normal consequence of eradication of blaturi due to a strong and long anti-blat campaign.
In January 2008, the president Ratko Butorović of Serbian first division side Vojvodina Novi Sad, stadium director Milan Čabrić and referees Mihajlo Jeknić, Borislav Kasanski and Goran Kovačević were amongst several arrested on suspicion of match fixing. [89]
Ratko Butorović nicknamed Bata Kankan was arrested on suspicion of bribing referee Mihajlo Jeknic with 4,000 Euros to lead the match at Lučani on 12 December last year in favor of Butorović's Vojvodina Novi Sad that was a visitor. [90]
In October 2009, Serbia beat Romania in a suspicious 5–0 in Belgrade in a FIFA World Cup 2010 qualifying match. After the defeat the Romanian team headed to their hotel in Belgrade and some journalists saw Adrian Mutu leaving to celebrate with Butorović. [91]
In June 2012, Serbia U-19 side played Romania in 2012 UEFA European Under-19 Championship elite qualification the Serbs won 3–0 in Serbia, before the match three Romanian players were seen taking photos with Butorović. [92]
According to Mirko Poledica President of the Sindicate of Professional Footballers in Serbia, it had been a public secret for years that matches were fixed in the country's football championships. 'People have known about match-fixing for a long time, but this is the first time that players talk about it in public. Unfortunately, there is a lot of crime and there are a lot of hooligans in Serbian football. Many of those who know something, have no courage to talk about fixed matches, because of their personal safety. Some of the players have received threatening text messages: if they do not keep quiet, they will suffer serious consequences.' [93]
In July 2014 a total of 15 people were indefinitely suspended by the Sierra Leone Football Association over allegations of match-fixing - 4 players (Ibrahim Kargbo, Ibrahim Koroma, Samuel Barlay and Christian Caulker) as well as 3 referees and 8 officials, including Rodney Michael. [94] Koroma later denied the allegations, [95] and an inquiry into the allegations was also announced. [96] The bans on the 15 players was lifted in March 2015. [97]
In April 2019 ex-Sierra Leone international Ibrahim Kargbo was one of four African former international footballers banned for life by FIFA due to "match manipulation". [29]
In May 2019 a number of people (including current and former players) were arrested by police in Spain investigating match-fixing allegations. [98]
In March 2023, FC Barcelona were accused of bribing a referee official. [99] Police raided the referral office in September 2023. [100]
In November 2019 Nigerian player Dickson Etuhu was found guilty of match fixing by a Swedish court, and said he would appeal. [101] Both Defence and Prosecution said they would appeal the sentence. [102]
In August 2021, Iranian forward Amir Memari Manesh was banned for life by the Tajikistan Football Federation for admitting to betting on his own games with Dushanbe-83. [103]
In March 2019, Togolese referee Kokou Hougnimon Fagla was banned for life by FIFA due to match fixing. [104] He denied that he had done so. [105]
In May 2018, 35 Ukrainian clubs were accused of match-fixing. [106]
In September 2022, Georgian midfielder Kakhi Makharadze was handed a five-year ban for match fixing involving his club Lokomotiv Tashkent. [107]
The Fédération Internationale de Football Association, more commonly known by its acronym FIFA, is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded in 1904 to oversee international competition among the national associations of Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland. Headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland, its membership now comprises 211 national associations. These national associations must also be members of one of the six regional confederations: CAF (Africa), AFC, UEFA (Europe), CONCACAF, OFC (Oceania), and CONMEBOL.
Joseph Sepp Blatter is a Swiss former football administrator who served as the eighth President of FIFA from 1998 to 2015. He has been banned from participating in FIFA activities since 2015 as a result of the FIFA corruption case made public that year, and will remain banned until 2027.
Michel François Platini is a French football administrator and former player and manager. Regarded as one of the greatest footballers of all time, Platini won the Ballon d'Or three times in a row, in 1983, 1984 and 1985, and came seventh in the FIFA Player of the Century vote. In recognition of his achievements, he was named a Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur in 1985 and became an Officier in 1998. As the president of UEFA in 2015 he was banned from involvement in football under FIFA's organisation, over ethics violations. The ban lasted until 2023.
In organized sports, match fixing is the act of playing or officiating a contest with the intention of achieving a predetermined result, violating the rules of the game and often the law. There are many reasons why match fixing might take place, including receiving bribes from bookmakers or sports bettors, and blackmail. Competitors may also intentionally perform poorly to gain a future advantage, such as a better draft pick or to face an easier opponent in a later round of competition. A player might also play poorly to rig a handicap system.
The Ghana Football Association (GFA) is the governing body of association football in Ghana and is based in Accra the capital of Ghana. Founded in 1957, the Association was dissolved by the Ghanaian Minister of Sport, Isaac Kwame Asiamah, on 7 June 2018, after the discovery of corruption in the association through investigative videos. In October 2019, a new president, Kurt Okraku, was elected as the association reconvened upon the completion of the work of the FIFA Normalization Committee. Mark Addo was later elected vice president in November 2019. Kurt Edwin Simeon-Okraku has been re-elected as President of the Ghana Football Association during their 2023 Elective Congress in Tamale in the Northern region of Ghana.
Racism in association football is the abuse of players, officials, and fans because of their skin colour, nationality, or ethnicity. Some may also be targeted because of their association with an opposing team, although there have been instances of individuals being targeted by their own fans. The topic of racism in association football has been widely covered by the media and in academic studies. There have been a range of responses by various associations, such as FIFA and UEFA, as well as by teams, and individual players and managers to address the problem.
Ibrahim Obreh Kargbo is a Sierra Leonean former professional footballer. He ended his career with a suspension over match-fixing.
Football is the most popular sport in Sierra Leone. The governing body is the Sierra Leone Football Association (SLFA). The SLFA was formed in 1960 and has been affiliated with FIFA beginning the same year. There has been and continues to be trouble within the sport in Sierra Leone. In the past, however, the country has achieved a modicum of success in international competition.
Nchimunya Mweetwa is a Zambian football striker for Nico United.
Homophobia has been widespread in men's association football, also known as soccer, throughout the world.
The 2009 European football betting scandal was an attempt to influence the outcome of professional association football matches in Europe, and to defraud the gambling industry by betting on the results. The investigation centres on around 200 fixtures, including domestic league games in nine European countries: Germany, Belgium, Switzerland, Croatia, Slovenia, Turkey, Hungary, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Austria. It also involved twelve qualifying matches in the UEFA Europa League and three in the UEFA Champions League. Peter Limacher, a spokesman for European football's governing body UEFA, described it as "the biggest match-fixing scandal ever to hit Europe."
The 2011–12 Italian football match-fixing scandal emerged on 1 June 2011 after a number of football-related figures were arrested or placed under official scrutiny by Italian police for alleged match-fixing. The list included well-known figures like former Italian international footballer Giuseppe Signori, as well as former Serie A players Mauro Bressan, Stefano Bettarini and Cristiano Doni. The group was accused of having fixed a wide range of Serie B, Lega Pro Prima Divisione and Lega Pro Seconda Divisione games.
The 2011 Turkish sports corruption scandal was an investigation about match fixing, incentive premium, bribery, establishing a criminal organization, organized crime and intimidation in Turkey's top two association football divisions, the Süper Lig and First League.
Sagar Thapa is a Nepalese footballer, and was until October 2015 the captain of the Nepal national football team. He made his first appearance for the national team in 2003. Since then, Thapa has represented his country in 50 international matches which puts him behind only Bal Gopal Maharjan and Upendra Man Singh in terms of the most appearances for Nepal. In October 2015, five members of the All Nepal Football Association, including Sagar Thapa and Sandip Rai, were arrested for match fixing. He was supposed to take 5 lakhs per fixed match.
Felix Zwayer is a German football referee who is based in Berlin. He referees for SC Charlottenburg of the Berlin Football Association. He is a FIFA referee, and is ranked as a UEFA elite category referee.
Over the course of the game's history, several incidents relating to match-fixing in English football have taken place.
In November and December 2013 several individuals were arrested by the National Crime Agency (NCA) on suspicion of fixing English association football matches. The arrests occurred as a result of two separate newspaper investigations, by The Daily Telegraph and the Sun on Sunday. On 17 June 2014, a jury at Birmingham Crown Court found Michael Boateng, Krishna Sanjey Ganeshan and Chann Sankaran guilty of conspiracy to commit bribery, while Hakeem Adelakun was cleared of the offence. Sankaran and Ganeshan were sentenced to five years in prison, with Boeteng given an 18-month sentence. At a later trial, Moses Swaibu and Delroy Facey were also found guilty of conspiracy to commit bribery and sentenced to 16 months and 30 months in prison respectively.
The issue of match fixing in tennis is an ongoing problem. First reported on by The Sunday Telegraph in 2003, an organisation called the Tennis Integrity Unit was set up in 2008 following an investigation into the problem. In 2011, Daniel Köllerer became the first player to receive a lifetime ban from the sport due to match fixing. Later that year, the organisers of the Wimbledon tournament were provided a list of people suspected of involvement in the issue. In 2016 the BBC reported on "evidence of widespread suspected match-fixing at the top level of world tennis, including at Wimbledon", and in February 2019 the BBC said that tennis was a "sport riddled with corruption".
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