5 most noticeable football scandals of all time
Football is not simply a game. Rather, it is the industry where there are many big scandals. As a football fan, do you know all the scandals below?
1. FIFA Corruption scandal in 2015
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FIFA officials were accused of bribery. Source: Foreign Policy
Where there is big profitability, there will be corruption and bribery. Football industry, of course, is not an exception. The more popularity and higher profitability of a football tournament are, the higher risk of corruption it faces. In 2015, the football industry witnessed the sport’s biggest scandal of the year: the FIFA corruption scandal. There were 14 former and current FIFA officials accused of racketeering charges.
These 14 people were investigated for their criminals of wire fraud, racketeering and money laundering by the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation Division (IRS-CI). These FBI and IRS-CI found FIFA officials guilty of taking the bribery of more than 100 million dollars from nations who wanted to host the next World Cup. They used US bank accounts for their corruption transactions.
Here are the benefits that made many nations desperate to host the World Cup
- More jobs created, boosting the economic sector
- Increase living standards and per capita income
- Attract foreign investors
- Improve infrastructure
- Boost tourism sector and the economy
- Make the national products and services known globally
- Market brands and gain popularity
- Promote culture and publicity of the city as well as the nation where this tournament is hosted
- Strengthen the social ties between the host nation and other parts of the world
For all those great benefits, many countries are willing to pay a huge amount of money to be the host nation of the World Cup tournament. However, when FIFA – the organization governing football breaks the rules, would others willing to follow them?
2. Calciopoli referee scandal in 2006
There is a thing that all football fans know: a single bad call by a referee could make the entire outcome of a match change. Therefore, incorruptibility and integrity are a must for every referee. In 2006, they discovered that several Italian teams selected referees who called the football matches in their favour. This soon became one of the most serious scandals in the football industry and even in the sports industry.
A referee could influence the outcome of the match greatly. Source: Footie Central
Several refs were used by different teams in different matches to influence the outcome of the game. However, the most noticeable team involved in this corruption case would be Juventus. As a consequence, this team was knocked down from Serie A to Serie B. The titles that Juventus has won before this scandal were stripped.
3. Andres Escobar murder in 1994
To many people, soccer is not only a sports game but is a part of the culture and even betting game. This led to the death of Andres Escobar in the World Cup 1994, making the match between the US and Colombia catastrophic. In the match, Colombia would have probably won the US, but without an accidental goal from the own team’s defender Andres Escobar. The Colombia team lost the game and was out of sorts from the get-go. There were many theories, suggesting that the accidental goal made by Andres Escobar was not an accident but a bribe accepted by the Colombia defender by an organized crime group who had a betting interest in the game.
The error made by Andres Escobar upset his team and his country. He ended up being shot repeatedly by Humberto Munoz Castro – who had a relationship with a powerful Colombian cartel.
4. The Nigerian age fraud in 2009
Age fraud is quite common in the football industry. For several years, Nigeria has been guilty of age fraud, not only in football but also in athletes. The most noticeable that shook the sports industry is the 2009 Under-17 World Cup. Half of the Nigerian football team were found to be much older than the age they had claimed. The reason was that older footballers meant that they had more experience than the younger footballers, thus the possibility to win was higher. For decades, there have been too many times Nigeria recorded to commit age fraud, but perhaps the 2009 Under-17 World Cup is the most embarrassing scandal of this country.
5. Brazilian spending scandal in 2014
This scandal happened in Brazil – the host nation of World Cup 2014. With the hosting the tournament purpose, it was supposed for the host nation to spend on stadium construction, accommodation and other infrastructures. The investment itself had no scandal. But the extremely huge investment was another problem. The money invested in Brazil’s World Cup stadium tripled to 900 million dollars in public funds, in which the large part was fraudulent billing (according to government auditors).
The sky-rocketing investment in World Cup stadium made Brazilians angry. Source: Alternative Information & Development Centre
The sky-rocketing costs made it the world’s second-most expensive soccer arena, even though the city owned no professional soccer team. Besides, the overspending of public financial funds could influence the potential outcomes of future government elections and took the funds that should have been invested in things that the public needed. And this really made the public angry.
6. Brazilian footballer Bruno Fernandes’s scandal in 2010
This is one of the most serious scandals in the football history relating to the football’s personality. Bruno Fernandes was the captain and goalkeeper of Brazilian most popular club, Flamengo, before he was accused of killing his ex-girlfriend. The footballer was mad because of his girlfriend’s decision to keep the baby. Despite the money he earned, this footballer refused to pay child support to his girlfriend. Being too mad at the issue, he, together with his friends – a retired policeman named Santos, decided to kidnap, torture her, kill her, cut her into pieces and feed her to his pets.
The killer committed this serious crime was sentenced to 22 years in prison. However, it was just a few years before an appeal was made. During this period, the Brazilian goalkeeper was freed and even joined a new club. Then, his appeal was denied and the cruel murderer was sent back to jail. Bruno Fernandes was a highly-rated goalkeeper in Brazil before the violent scandal which, no doubt, would affect his professional career badly.
Football has always been the king of sports for its spirit. Millions of people watch and love this game. However, the football industry is not as beautiful as we have always witnessed it. In fact, the football world is full of scandals, fraud and crime. A part of it comes from football betting, like as this https://sieukeo.com/ty-le-keo. You can see a large number of players still participating every day.
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