By Paul Nicholson
April 3 – In global politics it is normally the all-powerful US that has the ‘Big Brother is watching you’ reputation. But in football it is different. Mexico’s Deportivo Toluca has been handed a $5,000 fine by CONCACAF’s disciplinary committee for spying on a San Jose Earthquakes training session.
San Jose Earthquakes claimed that Toluca had filmed, without authorisation, parts of a closed training session on March 18 at Estadio Nemesio Diez, before the return leg of their Champions League quarter final.
The tie ended 2-2 after the second league but Toluca went through after winning 5-4 on penalties. In the semi-finals Toluca lead Costa Rica’s Alajuelense 1-0 after the first leg in Costa Rica. The winners of the fnal qualify for the FIFA Club World Cup 2014 in Morocco.
Toluca were ruled to have breached the CONCACAF Champions League Team Media Guidelines and the FIFA Disciplinary Code for unsporting behavior and Fair Play.
The sanction cannot be appealed under the CONCACAF Champions League Regulations.
The Mexican/US spygate scandal is not the first time one club has been caught illegally watching another’s training session.
In a slightly more light-hearted incident in Italy last year a coach from Genoa was caught “spying” on local rivals Sampdoria of their derby clash. The agent was dressed in Rambo-style camouflage and hiding in the training ground bushes.
Sampdoria said in a statement he was hiding “like Rambo” but “failed to overcome Sampdoria’s intelligence and counter-intelligence operations”.
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