Match-fixing – Inside World Football

Minerva owner Bajaj reports match-fixing attempt saying it is ‘rampant’ in India’s lower leagues

Paul Nicholson — Fri, 14 Apr 2023 13:11:45 +0000

April 14 – A bookmaker has allegedly approached two players at Delhi FC in the Indian I-League Second Division in an attempt to fix matches, Minerva club owner Ranjit Bajaj has claimed.

In March the players were contacted multiple times and promised they could “make a lot of money” by the match fixer, who even wrote to the players explaining that I-League 2 matches are beamed into betting shops and so attract interest from punters.

Match-fixing? Real Madrid to join case against Barca for allegedly buying referee influence

Paul Nicholson — Mon, 13 Mar 2023 08:03:10 +0000

March 13 – Real Madrid are to join an official complaint filed on Friday by prosecutors against Barcelona and two of its ex-presidents over millions of dollars allegedly paid to a company that belonged to the former vice president of Spain’s refereeing committee.

Prosecutors allege that under a secret agreement and “in exchange for money”, Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira favoured Barcelona in influencing results.

Real called an urgent board meeting and decided to take legal action for what they called “serious accusations”

Starlizard launches Komodo free to sport stakeholders in fight against match-fixing

Paul Nicholson — Thu, 09 Mar 2023 09:13:25 +0000

March 9 – Starlizard Integrity Services (SIS) – match-fixing monitoring specialists and the integrity division of London-based sports betting consultancy Starlizard – has launched its new online match-fixing alert system Komodo.

Komodo is being offered free of charge to sports governing bodies and law enforcement agencies globally in the fight against match manipulation in sport.

Affy Sheikh, Head of Starlizard Integrity Services, said: “We believe the future success of anti-match fixing efforts depends on more and better information being made freely available to integrity officers and investigators by true experts in this field.

LaLiga refers Huracan to police over suspected fixing of Copa del Rey tie

Paul Nicholson — Fri, 24 Feb 2023 09:17:03 +0000

February 24 – Spain’s LaLiga has confirmed that an investigation is underway regarding a possible case of match-fixing during a Copa del Rey match two years ago.

The Spanish league said it had filed a formal complaint to the National Police Center for Sports Integrity and Gambling (CENPIDA) following an anonymous tip regarding the first-round match between Levante and minnows Huracán Melilla, which Levante won 8-0.

Six people connected to Huracán have already been questioned.

Starlizard reports match-fixing is not slowing with youth matches increasingly targeted

Paul Nicholson — Thu, 02 Feb 2023 06:03:34 +0000

February 2 – Sports betting monitoring specialists Starlizard Integrity Services (SIS) are reporting a slight increase in the number of matches that showed ‘suspicious’ betting activity in 2022.

SIS identified an increasing number of suspect games taking place in Asia and a concerning trend towards the rise of suspicious youth matches.

A total of 144 football matches in 2022 were assessed as suspicious by SIS, a marginal increase on the 140 suspicious matches in 2021.

Spanish police’s second swoop on match-fixing criminal gang sees 23 new arrests

Paul Nicholson — Tue, 31 Jan 2023 15:37:46 +0000

January 31 – Spanish police have released more detail of 23 arrests, including football players, as part of a probe into suspected match-fixing in lower league football in Spain, Andorra and Gibraltar. There are currently 30 matches under further investigation for fixing.

The suspects were arrested in November last year in Badajoz, Cadiz, Ciudad Real, Cordoba, Tenerife and in Ceuta after 21 other members of the same criminal organisation were apprehended a year earlier in Operation Conifera,

Police hunt for betting-related match-fixers at Brazilian youth tournament

Paul Nicholson — Tue, 24 Jan 2023 09:28:46 +0000

January 24 – Brazilian authorities have been alerted to attempts to manipulate matches in the Copinha, one of the country’s most important youth tournaments.

Sao Paulo’s police are investigating and trying to identify an alleged gang that recruits players in a betting related attempt to manipulate match events.

One match fixer tried to entice players from two teams with the same proposal. Players from Zumbi, from the state of Alagoas, and Real Ariquemes,

English FA launch spot-fixing probe into Oxford Utd’s FA Cup tie with Arsenal

Paul Nicholson — Thu, 12 Jan 2023 11:01:05 +0000

January 12 – England’s football association is to investigate reports of spot-fixing surrounding the booking of Oxford United defender Ciaron Brown (pictured right) during the League One side’s 3-0 defeat by Arsenal in the FA Cup on Monday.

Suspicious betting patterns regarding Brown’s 59th-minute booking for a foul on Bukayo Saka when the game was still goalless have been brought to the FA’s attention.

The Daily Mail newspaper says text messages were exchanged pre-match suggesting that Brown would receive a yellow card,

Toney hit with another 30 charges of breaking FA betting rules

Paul Nicholson — Thu, 22 Dec 2022 10:25:08 +0000

December 22 – Brentford striker Ivan Toney has been charged with a further 30 breaches of England’s betting on football regulations that prevents active professional players from wagering on football.

Toney had already been charged with breaking the FAs betting regulations 232 times between 25 February 2017 and 23 January 2022.

The added 30 breaches took place between 13 March 2017 and 18 February 2019 when he played for Scunthorpe United,

French sanction 76 players and coaches for betting on football

Paul Nicholson — Tue, 20 Dec 2022 09:30:22 +0000

December 20 – French football authorities have sanctioned 76 players, coaches and managers for failing to respect the ban on sports betting during the 2020-2021 season.

“These offenses are committed even though, together, the LFP and the UNFP (the players’ union) carry out awareness or information campaigns with clubs on a daily basis,” a statement said.

PSG women’s goalkeeper coach Guillaume Lemire is reported to have received the heaviest penalty: a four-match suspension and a fine of €1,000.