Gismo Posted June 1, 2014 Group: Member Topic Count: 417 Content Count: 9,688 Reputation: 1,237 Days Won: 8 Joined: 09/24/2009 Share Posted June 1, 2014 http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/01/sports/soccer/fixed-matches-cast-shadow-over-world-cup.html?_r=0 JOHANNESBURG — A soccer referee named Ibrahim Chaibou walked into a bank in a small South African city carrying a bag filled with as much as $100,000 in $100 bills, according to another referee traveling with him. The deposit was so large that a bank employee gave Mr. Chaibou a gift of commemorative coins bearing the likeness of Nelson Mandela. Later that night in May 2010, Mr. Chaibou refereed an exhibition match between South Africa and Guatemala in preparation for the World Cup, the world’s most popular sporting event. Even to the casual fan, his calls were suspicious — he called two penalties for hand balls even though the ball went nowhere near the players’ hands. Mr. Chaibou, a native of Niger, had been chosen to work the match by a company based in Singapore that was a front for a notorious match-rigging syndicate, according to an internal, confidential report by FIFA, soccer’s world governing body. Continue reading the main story FIFA’s investigative report and related documents, which were obtained by The New York Times and have not been publicly released, raise serious questions about the vulnerability of the World Cup to match fixing. The tournament opens June 12 in Brazil. The report found that the match-rigging syndicate and its referees infiltrated the upper reaches of global soccer in order to fix exhibition matches and exploit them for betting purposes. It provides extensive details of the clever and brazen ways that fixers apparently manipulated “at least five matches and possibly more†in South Africa ahead of the last World Cup. As many as 15 matches were targets, including a game between the United States and Australia, according to interviews and emails printed in the FIFA report. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Who'sYourData? Posted June 1, 2014 Group: Member Topic Count: 410 Content Count: 19,525 Reputation: 992 Days Won: 24 Joined: 09/01/2006 Share Posted June 1, 2014 Just like when this happened in the NBA, when big money is there to be had someone will try to get it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DELdaBull Posted June 3, 2014 Group: Member Topic Count: 86 Content Count: 17,061 Reputation: 1,429 Days Won: 19 Joined: 09/15/2005 Share Posted June 3, 2014 (edited) Lots of poor countries play soccer. Lots of poor men officiate the game. Edited June 3, 2014 by DELdaBull Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charsibb Posted June 3, 2014 Group: Member Topic Count: 653 Content Count: 31,049 Reputation: 2,487 Days Won: 172 Joined: 08/30/2011 Share Posted June 3, 2014 Sad when video review becomes necessary - not to review the players, but to review the refs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bull-by-Marriage Posted June 4, 2014 Group: Bull Backers Topic Count: 355 Content Count: 4,741 Reputation: 127 Days Won: 3 Joined: 02/25/2004 Share Posted June 4, 2014 There has been a HUGE crackdown on match fixing. This is something that FIFA is actually doing right. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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