FIFA Investigating Claims Of Match-Fixing In Two International Friendlies

International friendlies between Latvia and Bolivia or Bulgaria and Estonia aren’t typically going to draw anybody’s attention except for the players, but something fishy was afoot in those February matches, where Latvia triumphed 2-1 over Bolivia and Bulgaria and Estonia played out a 2-2 draw. Not only were there irregular betting patterns detected by the authorities in the build-up to the matches, but every single goal in both matches was scored via penalty - and both games were arranged by the same agency.

Enough red flags were raised by the betting patterns and the officials’ decisions in the game for FIFA to launch a full investigation. The spectre of match-fixing looms large in football, with several major incidents over the last decade including the 2006 Italian football scandal which saw four of the country’s biggest teams relegated to the Serie B after evidence that they were buying off referees emerged. Obviously, match-fixing is something that seriously damages the integrity of the game, and FIFA are completely right to investigate. This doesn’t sound like it’s going to be a particularly difficult case, either.

According to Estonian Football Association spokesman Mihkel Uiboleht, quoted by the BBC as saying that there were concerns about the Bulgaria-Estonia match even before it began:

“The friendly was organised by an agency with whom we will not work any more. We received information of possible manipulation even before the game as the same agency also organised the match between Latvia and Bolivia and there was the same scenario there.”

Estonia’s match happened all of three hours after Latvia-Bolivia game, so it’s not like there was any time to call it off or alert FIFA before it got underway, but two games in the same place, at more or less the same time, organised by the same agency, with strange betting patterns and seven penalties? This is the least subtle betting ring ever.