Brazil’s Senate opens new inquiry on soccer match-fixing

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This article was published 12/03/2024 (932 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) — Brazil’s Senate on Tuesday opened another inquiry into match-fixing in the country’s top soccer divisions. The move comes a year after a sprawling investigation by prosecutors linked 26 people, including players, businesspeople and sports executives, to criminal betting schemes.

Sen. Romario de Souza Faria, a World Cup winner in 1994, made the request for the inquiry last week. A similar investigation in the country’s lower house ended in frustration six months ago.

Faria said the Senate inquiry should use as a reference a recent report published by technology company SportRadar, which put 109 matches played in Brazil in 2023 under suspicion of match-fixing.

The original investigation by prosecutors in the state of Goias is still ongoing. It showed last year that players in Brazil’s first and second divisions were allegedly offered up to $20,000 by criminal syndicates to perform specific actions during games, such as receiving yellow cards and giving away penalty kicks.

Several players who were accused of involvement in the scheme have been suspended from the sport.

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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer