Portugal’s leading football body has lashed out at sports corruption watchdogs Federbet over claims that Primeira Liga games are subject to match-fixing.
On Tuesday, Federbet delivered a report to the European Parliament, in which it claimed around 50 matches across Europe’s various leagues in the 2014-15 season were suspected of fixing. Among these suspect matches was last month’s Benfica 4-0 victory over Penafiel, which Federbet claimed attracted a larger than usual volume of bets.
Multiple matches in Portugal’s second division were also flagged, including last August’s notorious ‘phantom’ match that purported to involve Portugal’s Freamunde and a Spanish second division team, yet turned out to be a pickup game between friends. At least four major bookmakers were reportedly conned into accepting wagers on the bogus match.
Federbet said Portugal’s struggling economy has resulted in “players going unpaid for months and societies on the verge of bankruptcy.” This has created a fertile “breeding ground for the match-fixing virus.”
Reaction from the Liga Portugal (LPF)) was swift and irate. Portugal News reported that the LPF had asked public prosecutors to initiate legal proceedings against the Brussels-based Federbet, which has previously stood accused of making similar allegations without offering much in the form of concrete evidence to support its claims.
Federbet bills itself as a non-profit watchdog but the LPF issued a statement saying Federbet “has been trying to offer its services to the LPF and its associates for impossible amounts. The formula they have been using is a means of pressure which is absolutely repulsive. Instead of taking the matter up with the competent authorities, they have opted to launch public suspicion on our clubs and sporting competitions.”
Based on that kind of recommendation, has Federbet secretary-general Francesco Barranca ever thought of running for Sepp Blatter‘s old job?
