Sports Writing (EFE).- Corruption in soccer has landed in Brazil and led to the pillory of eight first division players who, if found guilty of forging results, are exposed to sentences of up to six years in prison.
Match-fixing, understood as the illegal manipulation of results, or the fabrication of novelties such as penalties, injuries, reprimands or expulsions, has already produced in America since 2012 almost forty life sentences for soccer players and suspensions for up to five years for as many defendants. .
Participating in exchange for bribes in the plot of criminal organizations that thrive on gambling, fabricating wins in matches or tournaments, qualifying for a championship or avoiding relegation ended the career of the president of the Paraguayan club Olimpia Marco Trovato on 28 September 2020.
Despite the impact of the cases already tried in El Salvador, Nicaragua and Guatemala, the panorama remains complex in the Americas and the tension often sets off alarm bells from north to south, from the United States and Mexico, to Argentina via Panama, Colombia , Peru, and Bolivia.
Brazil and the new villains of ‘jogo bonito’
The Ecuadorian midfielder from Athletico Paranaense, Brayan García, the Uruguayan midfielder from Coritiba, Jesús Trindade, and the Argentine central defender from Bragantino, Kevin Lomónaco, stand out in the list of eight players from the Brazilian League who are mentioned in alleged conversations intercepted from illegal bettors .
The “Operation Maximum Penalty” was launched last November by the public ministry of the state of Goiás, in central Brazil, and found that a criminal organization offered players between 10,000 and 20,000 dollars to guarantee specific results, to obtain admonish or send off, or they will cause penalties and corner kicks in each match.
Prosecutors have indications that the manipulation occurred in thirteen games, including eight for ‘Brasileirao’ last year.
Guatemala: three exiles and a halfway scandal
On November 25, 2012, FIFA banned players Yony Flores, Guillermo Ramírez and Gustavo Cabrera for life.
The three were accused of manipulating the course of at least two games for the Guatemalan national team, against Venezuela on June 1, 2011, and Costa Rica on May 25, 2012; as well as one of the Concacaf Champions League between Municipal and Santos Laguna.
Ten years later, when everything seemed forgotten, a new scandal was uncovered. The goalkeeper coach for the Nueva Concepción team, the Nicaraguan Ramón Alfonso Sánchez, was denounced as the architect of a maneuver to make his team lose by 4 goals against Guastatoya on May 4 of that year.
The maneuver did not work. And Sánchez and other alleged implicates were denounced through anonymous messages. Four months later, the investigations linked three players to the failed plot, but everything was diluted with the argument that since the manipulation of the result had not materialized, there was no rigging.
El Salvador wipes 14 players off the map
On September 20, 2013, fourteen players were banned for life for participating in match-fixing for the El Salvador team.
The defendants were found to have done little or nothing to prevent the Selecta’s defeat by Mexico 5-0 during the 2011 Gold Cup, with the United States 2-1 in a friendly in 2010, against Paraguay 4- 1 and with DC United 1-0 in 2012.
Others received sanctions for five years and one, and six months.
In 2016, the Legislative Assembly included in the Criminal Code the crime of sports fraud and the penalty of six years in prison.
Fallen in Nicaragua and Honduras… Suspects in US And Peru
On June 18, 2021, 19 soccer players, a former promotion league coach, and a prop man, a total of 27 people, were banned for life for corrupting matches in the first and second divisions of Nicaragua.
It was never specified whether the arrangement of the matches altered the outcome of the championships. However, the teams with players involved, Juventus, Junior Managua and Matigás, did not occupy relevant positions at the time.
Honduran Ramón Maradiaga began to be investigated in July 2017 at the request of the FIFA Integrity Department, which saw irregularities in his role as El Salvador’s coach.
The indications led to the fact that the coach at least tried to convince his players to accept the offer of a subject who intended to guarantee a victory for Canada. He was suspended for two years from all soccer activity.
Brazilian midfielder Max Alves was removed from the Colorado Rapids squad in early May while MLS investigates whether he was involved in “illegal sports betting.”
In Peru, an alleged betting case also came to light on May 9 involving Deportivo Coopsol and several players, who would have received between $3,000 and $4,000 for twisting the results in the so-called Liga 2.