Soccer’s universal appeal as a sport that simply requires a field and a ball has led to it being commonly known as “the beautiful game.”
But as beautiful as soccer may be, it’s certainly got its ugly side as well. Numerous scandals have rocked the soccer world over the years, ranging from match-fixing to corrupt officials to even murder.
Here are 10 of the biggest scandals that soccer has had to endure over the past quarter-century, along with why it’s important for us to be aware of them as bettors.
Decades of rumors about corruption at the highest levels of the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) were finally proven true in 2015, resulting in numerous officials being charged with bribery, wire fraud, racketeering, money laundering, and other offenses.
Investigations by the FBI determined that FIFA officials essentially used bribes to determine every major decision they made, such as where the 2010 FIFA World Cup was held, who would win the 2011 FIFA presidential election, which networks would secure broadcast rights for the World Cup, or even which clothing companies would be awarded sponsorship contracts.
According to indictments, the government of South Africa paid a $10 million bribe (disguised as a charitable contribution) to help secure the 2010 World Cup. Meanwhile, an executive committee member from Qatar bought FIFA election votes at $40,000 per shot, eventually resulting in the small Middle Eastern country (where summer temperatures regularly exceed 120 degrees, and there is a high risk of terrorism) being awarded the 2022 World Cup.
When the international governing body of the world’s most popular game can be this corrupt, it has to make you wonder about the legitimacy, credibility, and trustworthiness of all the leagues it oversees. As a bettor, that’s a huge red flag that might prevent you from wagering massive amounts of money on things that may already be pre-determined, whether it be an individual match or even which country will be named host of the next World Cup (a lot of betting sites offer odds on this prop from time to time).
However, now that the corruption has been discovered and authorities are keeping a closer eye on FIFA, you could also argue that it’s safer to bet on soccer now than ever before.
Germany’s Bundesliga league has been home to several major scandals over the years, including Hertha Berlin making illegal player payments to gain an unfair competitive advantage in 1965 (similar to circumventing the salary cap), or more than 50 players, coaches, and officials being fined or suspended for match-fixing in 1971.
But the scandal Bundesliga is best known for came in 2005, when second-tier ref Robert Hoyzer, several other officials, and even some coaches and players were found to be working in tandem with an organized crime group to fix the outcomes of games. Even worse for German soccer, the scandal came just as their country was preparing to host the 2006 World Cup.
It was later discovered that Hoyzer, whose manipulation of results through questionable penalty calls and ejections was reported by fellow officials, did most of his match-fixing work at the lower levels of the German leagues. Although the DFB Committee of Control reviewed many games to determine whether Hoyzer or other officials had successfully manipulated the outcome, just two games were replayed, and only one of those two games ended in a different result.
A takeaway for gamblers from this scandal was that the organized crime group had targeted games in Bundesliga’s second league and other divisions, rather than the Bundesliga first league. The less attention that a league receives from fans and media, the easier it would seem for crime syndicates and bribed referees and players to get away with match-fixing…at least for a while.
Argentina’s championship hopes at the 1994 World Cup were basically dashed when the legendary Diego Maradona was sent home from the tournament after testing positive for five variants of ephedrine.
The Argentines, who were finalists in the previous two World Cups (including a title win in 1986) and had won their first two games in the 1994 tournament by a combined score of 6-1, lost 2-0 to Bulgaria hours after Maradona’s suspension was announced, and they dropped from 1st to 3rd in their group. The team then lost 3-2 to Romania in the Round of 16.
Maradona, who had previously been suspended by FIFA after testing positive for cocaine, said his positive test was due to a medicine he took to treat minor allergy symptoms. However, FIFA officials concluded the five variants of ephedrine found in Maradona’s system could not have come from one single medicine.
Although a greater concentration of ephedrine can act as a stimulant to provide more energy or lose weight, FIFA determined that Maradona’s apparent drug use was not enough to overturn Argentina’s victories in the tournament. “If two players had been found guilty,” said Sepp Blatter, FIFA’s general secretary at the time (and eventual president), “FIFA probably would have changed the results.”
That would have been no consolation for anyone who bet on Argentina to win the 1994 World Cup or even to advance to at least the quarter-finals. Maradona’s suspension from the World Cup is a grim reminder of the danger of betting on teams whose star player has a history of drug use or other off-the-field issues and could be unavailable to play at a moment’s notice.
When it comes to match-fixing, we’ve all heard about players intentionally scoring on their own net or referees deliberately making bad calls to influence the outcome. But what about when a team actually pays opposing players to lose intentionally?
That’s exactly what happened in the 1993 French Division 1 final between Olympique de Marseille and Valenciennes. Marseille owner Bernard Tapie used one of his players to bribe Valenciennes’ Jacques Glassmann, Jorge Burruchaga, and Christophe Robert to “go easy” on Marseille in that game, not only so that Marseille would win the French league title but also so that they’d be much fresher for their UEFA Champions League Final a few days later against A.C. Milan. Marseilles went on to blank Valenciennes 1-0 in the French final, then beat Milan by that same score in the Champions League title game.
Glassman, who had not accepted the bribe, later reported it to French soccer officials. Marseille was subsequently stripped of its French Division 1 title, and although the club’s Champions League title still stood, UEFA demoted Marseille to Ligue 2 the following season. Tapie was sentenced to two years in prison (eight of those months due to match-fixing) while Jean-Jacques Eydelie (the Marseille player who delivered the bribe), Burruchaga, and Robert also did time for their involvement.
Tapie’s bold attempt at fixing one of the most significant matches in all of soccer should warn all bettors that no level of the game is immune from such shady practices.
The mastermind behind Calciopoli was much more creative than Tapie and Marseille were in 1993. Rather than directly paying players or officials to intentionally throw games, Juventus sporting director Luciano Moggi allegedly used his power and influence to help determine which referees would be assigned to his team’s Serie A matches.
By picking officials who he considered to be more favorable to Juventus (or simply more likely to give them the benefit of the doubt on a 50/50 call), Moggi was able to sway the odds in his club’s favor. It was even alleged that the top players on Juventus’ rivals received a certain number of yellow cards in advance of a game against Juventus, increasing the probability that those players were suspended for that contest.
Juventus was relegated to Serie B and had two of its titles revoked, although charges against Moggi and former Juventus general manager Antonio Giraudo were dropped nine years later. Juventus then attempted to sue governing bodies for damages caused by the relegation to Serie B and the vacating of its two titles, but the lawsuit was unsuccessful.
Calciopoli is further proof that with so much on the line at the highest levels of professional soccer, some executives will leave no stone unturned in pursuit of a competitive advantage.
It didn’t take long after Calciopoli for Italian soccer to go back under the microscope for rampant match-fixing. Just five years, in fact, when 16 arrests were made involving current and recently-retired players believed to be part of betting and match-fixing schemes.
Cremona police’s Ultima Scomessa (Last Bet) investigation was heavily concentrated on 17 matches in Serie B and Italian non-league play, though there was also evidence of a failed attempt to fix a Serie A match as well. According to police, former and current players had worked with sports betting operators to help influence results, often with wagers worth hundreds of thousands of euros riding on the outcome.
Former Italian national team midfielder Cristiano Doni was one of the high-profile players implicated, with police alleging Doni helped ensure at least 3 goals were scored during a match between Atalanta and Piacenza. Another highlight of the investigation was when police believed several players had their drinks spiked in an effort to hinder their performance during a game between Paganese and Cremonese.
The alleged participation of national teamers like Doni and Stefano Bettarini in match-fixing schemes made it clear that even the top players in the sport were not above compromising the integrity of game if there was money to be gained.
A cover story by Veja magazine broke the news that Brazilian referees, including FIFA official Edilson Pereira de Carvalho, had been bribed by a ring of gamblers to fix numerous games in 2005. Prior to a league game between Vasco and Figueirense, police telephone taps caught Pereira de Carvalho saying he would “award a foul in the middle of the field and if anyone protests, I will send them off,” making it easier to Vasco to win the game (Vasco ended up winning 2-1).
According to various reports, the gamblers paid the referees between $10,000 and $15,000 Brazil Reals (the equivalent of $3,000 to $4,500 US) per game, and the ring turned a total profit of more than $1 million Reals ($300,000 US).
The scandal resulted in the cancellation of 11 matches that Pereira de Carvalho had officiated in the Brazilian championships, and the Brazilian Football Confederation chose to play 8 of those 11 matches over again.
Unfortunately for bettors, any results from those games in which Pereira de Carvalho had fixed would have stood because bets are paid out immediately after games end. That would have worked in your favor if you’d been on the winning side of those contests, but you’d have a seriously bad taste left in your mouth if you’d lost money on games that were influenced by a bribed referee.
The danger that sports betting syndicates present may have never been more obvious than when Colombia’s Andres Escobar was shot to death in a parking lot 10 days after his own goal led to Colombia’s elimination from the 1994 World Cup.
Escobar, who had accidentally deflected the ball into his own net while trying to break up an American pass in a group stage game against the United States, was shot 6 times, and the killer reportedly yelled “Goal!” after every shot.
Though then-coach Francisco Maturana blamed Escobar’s murder on the general unrest in Colombia at that time, drug cartel bodyguard Humberto Castro Munoz confessed to killing Escobar. Munoz also happened to be a driver for Santiago Gallon, who reportedly lost a large bet because of Escobar’s own goal, fueling the belief that the murder was simply retaliation for Escobar’s unfortunate mistake.
Just a few days after opening the CONCACAF Gold Cup with a 5-0 win over El Salvador, Mexico saw 5 of its players get suspended from the tournament after testing positive for clenbuterol, a stimulant that increases aerobic capacity. The players, including goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa and defender Francisco Rodriguez, who had both started for Mexico in the 2010 World Cup, blamed the positive test on eating contaminated beef.
As a result of the suspensions, Mexico had to play the rest of the tournament with just 17 eligible players, 6 less than the 23 that teams were allowed to carry on their roster and 1 less than teams were permitted to dress for each match. However, Mexico managed to overcome the loss of several stars and having a short bench to win its 5 remaining games, including a 4-2 victory over the United States in the championship game.
The suspensions may have served as a rallying point for the Mexican players, especially if the positive drug tests truly were due to eating some bad food. Any bettors who were savvy enough to view it that way were able to capitalize on odds that were far more generous on Mexico following the suspensions than before the tournament began.
When the Israeli men’s team was humiliated 8-0 on aggregate by Denmark in the 1999 European playoffs, their country’s soccer officials started looking for reasons why. After all, the 2-game series was the biggest event in Israel’s soccer history, and the team fell flat on its face despite having the chance to qualify for the European championships for the first time.
That lopsided result started to make a lot more sense, however, when it was discovered that Israeli players had invited call girls to their hotel before both of their games in that series. Staying up all night partying with prostitutes isn’t exactly the best way to save up energy and focus for a big game the following day, and the Israelis paid the price on the scoreboard. Coach Shlomo Scharf initially defended his team by saying hotel staff must have mistaken the players’ wives and girlfriends for prostitutes, but he later resigned from his post after the allegations proved to be true.
Whether or not the Israelis would have been able to beat the Danes in that playoff is debatable. In fact, Israeli International Security Minister Shlomo Ben-Ami told reporters that Denmark was so much better than Israel that the result would have been similar if it were the Danes, not Israelis, partying with call girls the night before. But it’s undeniable that the off-field antics of the Israeli team meant anyone who bet on them in that series was basically burning their money.
The fact that there have been so many major scandals in soccer over the past 25 years should come as a wake-up call for soccer bettors. The massive following and popularity that the game enjoys is exactly why it is ripe for exploitation by corrupt officials and illegal gambling rings.
This isn’t to suggest that you should never bet on soccer again. Thousands of games are played every month across the globe, and I’m sure that 99% of them are clean. There’s also a lot of enjoyment that comes from betting on soccer as a recreational pastime.
But knowing how many major events have been predetermined or at least affected by match-fixing and other corrupt measures, I’d be extremely hesitant to wager a significant amount of money on a single soccer game or event. Even though match-fixing is typically done at the lower levels where it can fly under the radar more easily, history has shown us that not even FIFA or the World Cup are exempt from shady practices.
Of course, you should never bet more than you can afford to lose on any sport. But when it comes to soccer, I recommend always being even more careful with what you’re wagering on and how much you’re putting on the line.
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