By David Gold
May 27 – FIFA has said that a friendly international between Kuwait and Jordan, which was held in the United Arab Emirates at the end of March, is under investigation for alleged match fixing.
World football’s governing body were tipped off about the possibility of the game being manipulated and they say that it followed a trend seen in other international friendlies in recent months.
The game finished 1-1 with both goals coming from penalties.
Similar events took place in Turkey in February, when Latvia, Bolivia, Bulgaria and Estonia two friendly games in Antalya, with all seven goals in those matches coming from penalties.
As in Turkey, the game played in Sharjah between the Jordanians and Kuwait was officiated by foreign referees.
It was part of a tournament which also involved Iraq and North Korea.
FIFA say online gambling sites were buzzing with activity from the game.
“There were the same indicators that show a consistent methodology of arranging and conducting the match,” Chris Eaton, FIFA’s head of security, said.
“There were no media agreements, no streaming of the match, no spectators and mostly cash transactions.
“The referees came at the last minute.”
A string of match fixing scandals have forced FIFA to investigate the issue in recent months, and it comes at the same time as the organisation hold inquiries into the conduct of the two candidates for its upcoming presidential election, Mohamed Bin Hammam and Sepp Blatter.
FIFA is also investigation possible corruption in the bidding process for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, with over a third of its Executive Committee facing various bribery allegations.
“FIFA’s responsibility is to prevent these things happening and to protect the integrity of the game, and protect the players and officials from the criminals who fix matches,” Eaton added.
“Often, we can’t afford to wait for the time it takes for a criminal prosecution to go through before we take action.”
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