In organized sports, match fixing occurs as a match is played to a completely or partially pre-determined result, violating the rules of the game and often the law.
There may be financial gains through agreements and gamblers which also include referees, players, coaches and/or team officials. It does not necessarily mean a team must deliberately lose a match, occasionally teams have been accused deliberately playing to a draw or a fix score where this ensures some mutual benefits and this has happened frequently in football even at the national and leagues like it happened in the Italian League several years ago.
Last week, a new Pandora of norms of match fixing allegations was laid against Nigeria as our preparations for the World Cup holding next month continues to earn enormous distractions as a certain renowned match fixer Wilson Ray Perumal admitted being part of a syndicate in fixing matches and helped Nigeria and Honduras qualify for the World Cup which was held in Africa for the first time in South Africa 2010.
Nigeria eventually qualified but had one of its most disastrous outings at the mundial which still rubs off on the team till date despite the great expectations from Keshi and his troops ahead of this summer’s fiesta.
According to Wilson Ray Perumal, a self confessed match fixer who was part of a syndicate that has been placed at the heart of a sophisticated network responsible for fixing hundreds of matches around the world, claims in a new book published by him that he assisted Honduras and Nigeria in reaching the World Cup through his activities in 2010.
Perumal had already admitted to being part of a syndicate that fixed strings of international friendlies by bribing corrupt officials and compromised players, but it was his first time that he claimed he influenced World Cup qualifiers.
His criminal records include an arrest in Helsinki, Finland in 2011 and sentenced to two years in prison while agreeing to cooperate with the authorities and implicated fellow citizen Dan Tan, alleged to be the heart of the fixing and gambling ring that placed bets on illicit Chinese markets.
Perumal’s book written in conjunction with the investigative journalists Alessandro Righi and Emmanuele Piano emphasizes the huge sum of money he won and lost which could amount to £3m a night.
The startling revelation according to him is the Nigerian connection in all this mess where he said he met with a Nigerian official in which he promised to help the country for the World Cup in return for free rein in organizing three warm up matches and a cut of the money FIFA would provide for hosting a training camp during the tournament.
The revelations continues to be damming as he stated that he influenced three players on his payroll to help Nigeria to victory in one of their qualifiers and also promised the Mozambique FA, $100,000 bonus if they were able to hold Tunisia to a draw and so stop Tunisia leap frogging Nigeria and seizing automatic qualification. Mozambique secured an unlikely 1-0 victory.
In his words “My plan worked and I was the unsung hero of Nigeria’s qualification to the final rounds of the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa” writes Perumal. ‘’Ferrying Nigeria and Honduras to the World Cup was a personal achievement. I got two teams to qualify for the World Cup but I cannot tell anyone” he added.
He further claims that he tried though unsuccessful to bribe referees at the World Cup itself and his big pies are spread across the globe. It is also alleged that he on two occasions arranged for bogus African teams to play official friendlies and deliver the required results.
As expected, the Nigeria Football Federation has reacted to these allegations as it tilts towards more confusion in the Glass House. Sani Lulu, the President of the Association as at that period has come out to deny the allegations insisting on a swift investigation to all the issues raised.
According to him, it was a move to cast aspersions on the football body while distancing himself.
In his words “I was in charge of the Federation and directly supervised the Super Eagles qualification for the 2010 World Cup. There never met, let alone of know, that man and I had nothing to do with match fixing” Lulu said.
He further claimed some groups of persons are out for mischief while pointing accusing fingers at the task force set up to ensure the country’s qualification for the tournament could have something to do with the allegations.
The greater shame lies in the fact that FIFA the World Cup Governing body has announced that it will probe the match fixing allegations leveled against Nigeria as they have stated that the video tapes of all the matches played by the Super Eagles route its qualification for the World Cup final held in South Africa in 2010.
An NFF source said “FIFA have told us they are going to watch the tapes of the matches we played throughout qualification-series. Our match-fixing officer and the integrity officers are also in touch with the FIFA Security Committee on the matter.
The NFF has dismissed Perumal’s claims as a “distinct fiction” and insisted that true heroes of Nigeria’s qualification for the 2010 FIFA World Cup finals were the Federal Government, the NFF, players and coaches of the Super Eagles and the generality of Nigeria ball fans.
The current scenario once again puts the country in the negative spotlight once again in football circles especially after the disgraceful outing of Dr. Amos Adamu a former FIFA executive member over allegations of corruption.
This is another sad tale on the preparations of the Super Eagles ahead of the World Cup already rocked by suspicions between the NFF and the technical crew as it will definitely add to the distraction and confusion rocking the team’s preparations ahead of the World Cup.
Nigerian expects the NFF to rise up to the present challenge and as we await the final verdict from FIFA, we believe that any erring official should be prosecuted in a competent court of law and this mess the Football Federation has found itself at the moment should not distract the national team in their quest for glory.
Once again, we have scored another first at the global level at this stage and we must mop up this fiasco effectively and learn the lessons of fairplay in our future endeavours. This whole episode smacks of deceit and a big shame to the African Champions.
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