SAO PAULO – Brazilian state prosecutors charged 16 people, including seven professional football players, with alleged match-fixing and illegal betting on Wednesday.
It threatens to be one of the largest scandals since the country legalised sports gambling in 2018.
Brazil Justice Minister Flavio Dino has ordered the federal police to launch an investigation into the scheme, after the charging documents were published on Wednesday.
Prosecutors of the Public Ministry of Goias said the alleged offences were in 13 matches in the top flight and second tier of the Brazilian Championship, including eight played in 2022.
According to the documents, a criminal gang paid players to commit infractions.
The syndicate would then bet on such outcomes to win payouts when the offences occurred.
The group would offer up to 500,000 reais (S$133,970) as an upfront payment to the players from clubs such as Santos, Juventude, Cuiaba, Cruzeiro, Athletico Paranaense, Internacional and Fluminense, the prosecutors alleged.
Santos defender Eduardo Bauermann is accused of receiving at least 50,000 reais to get a yellow card in a match against Aval in 2022, according to the documents.
Gabriel Tota, Paulo Miranda, Igor Carius, Victor Ramos, Fernando Neto and Matheus Gomes are among the other players charged, according to the documents.
The Brazilian Football Federation (CBF) sent a letter to President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and the Ministry of Justice, requesting that the federal police be involved in the case.
The CBF added that there is no possibility of the current competition being suspended.
“I’ve been working together with (world football’s governing body) Fifa, as well as Brazilian clubs and federations, with the aim of combating all types of crime, fraud or illicit action within football,” CBF president Ednaldo Rodrigues said in a statement.
“Those who commit crimes should not be part of Brazilian and world football.”
The CBF also said that as soon as the facts are proven, it hopes that “sanctions will be taken in an exemplary manner”.
Sports betting has been legal in Brazil since only 2018, when the country allowed online gambling.
It has exploded since then, and gambling adverts are often prominent during, before and after football matches. Brazil is preparing laws to tax and regulate the sector.
“The regulation will require that betting companies are based in Brazil,” the country’s finance ministry said previously, as most are based abroad, as well as “improving the supervision, collection and dialogue with the agents that operate in the sector”. REUTERS
