FIFA's investigative report and related documents, which were obtained
by The New York Times and have not been publicly released, raise serious
questions about the vulnerability of the World Cup to match fixing. The
tournament opens June 12 in Brazil.
The report found that the
match-rigging syndicate and its referees infiltrated the upper reaches
of global soccer in order to fix exhibition matches and exploit them for
betting purposes.
- It provides extensive details of the clever and brazen ways that fixers apparently manipulated "at least five matches and possibly more" in South Africa before the last World Cup.
- As many as 15 matches were targets, including a game between the United States and Australia, according to interviews and emails printed in the FIFA report.
- Although corruption has vexed soccer for years, the South Africa case gives an unusually detailed look at the ease with which professional gamblers can fix matches, as well as the governing body's severe problems in policing itself and its member federations.
After one match, the syndicate even made a death threat against the official who tried to stop the fix, investigators found.
The Times investigated the South African match-fixing scandal by
interviewing dozens of soccer officials, referees, gamblers,
investigators and experts in South Africa, Malaysia, England, Finland
and Singapore.
The Times also reviewed hundreds of pages of interview
transcripts, emails, referee rosters and other confidential FIFA
documents.
FIFA, which is expected to collect about $4 billion in
revenue for this four-year World Cup cycle for broadcast fees,
sponsorship deals and ticket sales, has relative autonomy at its
headquarters in Zurich.
But The Times found problems that could now
shadow this month's World Cup.
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