Most Infamous Match Fixing Scandals That Shook World Football
On Tuesday morning, the news that numerous La Liga players had been detained for alleged match-fixing startled the football world.
The cancer of football corruption has unluckily manifested itself more than often in recent years, but the idea that one of the top European leagues may have engaged in some form of match-fixing is undoubtedly alarming.
Although we don’t have a lot of information about the arrests, we can go back on certain historical occurrences to see how instances like these affected the sport and how the major organisations responded to some of the worst mistakes in its glorious past.
Totenero (1980)
Italian football appears on this list for the first time, but regrettably not the last.
A newspaper reported that two greengrocers in Rome orchestrated a match-fixing ring involving players from Lazio who frequented their restaurant, which resulted in Milan and Lazio being demoted from Series A. This was a significant scandal in European football that caused Milan and Lazio to lose their status in the division.
The two eventually ran out of money to manipulate games, and the illegal gambling practice known in Italy as “totenero” resulted in the imprisonment of no less than 21 players, officials, and owners.
Most notably, Perugia forward Paolo Rossi, who participated significantly in the Azzurri’s performance in their third World Cup in 1982 after serving a two-year prison sentence, was one of these.
Austria versus West Germany (1982)
The simultaneous play of the final games for each group was first accomplished in Mexico 86. FIFA changed its policy in response to the 1982 “Disgrace of Gijón” match between West Germany and Austria, which resulted in Algeria’s elimination.
While there were no penalties or investigations, this was apparent match-fixing that was taking on in front of the entire globe. It’s possible that this is a different instance of match-fixing than anything else on this list.
The Austrians and their neighbours West Germany knew that Algeria would advance from the group stage of the 1982 World Cup in Spain if West Germany won 1-0. After the Germans scored in the opening ten minutes, both teams virtually stopped attempting to score, and the next 80 minutes consisted of 22 men throwing the ball around aimlessly.
Despite extensive criticism of the match and an official Algerian complaint, the game’s outcome of 1-0 stood. However, it is because of this game that all of the final group games in international competitions are held at the same time.
Loss of the Title for Marseille (1993)
Marseille’s Alen Boksik and Howard Boylan
1993 saw Marseille at the top of their game as they won the UEFA Champions League and their fourth straight Ligue 1 championship.
All of that changed, though, when it was revealed that owner Bernard Tapie had paid struggling Valenciennes to sabotage their match against Les Phoceens.
Prior to the European Cup final, this was mostly done to prevent injuries. However, when Tapie was discovered, the club’s dream was crushed as they were instantly demoted to Ligue 2 and Tapie was given a lifetime ban from football.
Grobbelaar, Bruce (1994)
Chris Cole and Bruce Grobbelaar
Thankfully, there aren’t many instances of match-fixing in English football, so it was stunning when Liverpool shot stopper Bruce Grobbelaar was accused of the offence.
Along with Wimbledon players Hans Segers and John Fashanu, the European Cup winner was summoned to court, however all parties continue to vehemently deny any wrongdoing.
The jury was unable to reach a verdict in two trials, but all three defendants were permitted to play and were found to be innocent.
Calciopoli (2006)
Delivering the verdict in the Italian Football Scandal, Franco Origlia The most infamous issue in European football in the twenty-first century, as well as the worst chapter in Italian football history.
The conversations in the phone calls, which involved some of Italy’s largest teams, were about officials working together with the referee organisation so they could choose favourable officials for their matches.
All of the involved clubs received punishment after they were discovered, including point reductions and exclusions from European competition for Milan, Fiorentina, Lazio, and Reggina.
The worst offenders were Juventus, who surprisingly lost their previous two Scudetti and were demoted to Serie B, which caused a large exodus of star players from the team.
Italian alcohol cheating (2011)
Group E matchup between FC Bayern Munich and SL Benfica in the UEFA Champions League
We’re back in Italy, and this time we’re in Serie C, where a match between Cremonese and Paganese gained undeserved notoriety.
Cremonese players showed signs of fatigue early on in the match; others could not walk, and one even smashed his car on the way home from the game.
Eventually, it was discovered that Marco Paolini, the opposing goalkeeper, had injected tranquillizers into some of the beverages to fix the game and settle his gambling debts.
After the Italian FA learned that Paolini had connections to disgraced Singaporean tycoon Dan Tan, he was given a five-year suspension.
Second Division in Nigeria Scores Like Crazy (2013)
On the final day of the second division season, Plateau United Feeders and Police Machine, two Nigerian clubs vying for promotion to the professional league, had a lot on the line.
The games escalated from the weird to the really absurd when the Feeders led Akurba FC 7-0 at halftime and their promotion rivals Babayaro FC 6-0.
The Machine could only manage a 67-0 victory, a game in which someone scored 11 goals, three own goals, and four strikes in the span of sixty seconds. The Feeders went on to score 72 goals in the second half to claim an astounding 79-0 win, which was enough to finish ahead of them.
Naturally, the Nigerian FA was not pleased and decided to punish all four teams by banning them for ten years for the “shameful act.”
On Tuesday morning, the news that numerous La Liga players had been detained for alleged match-fixing startled the football world.
The cancer of football corruption has unluckily manifested itself more than often in recent years, but the idea that one of the top European leagues may have engaged in some form of match-fixing is undoubtedly alarming.
Although we don’t have a lot of information about the arrests, we can go back on certain historical occurrences to see how instances like these affected the sport and how the major organisations responded to some of the worst mistakes in its glorious past.
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