By Andrew Warshaw
April 24 – The new president of the Spanish Football League says his top priority is bringing an end to match-fixing.
Spain has not been one of those countries at the forefront of the global match-fixing crisis so the comments of Javier Tebas (pictured) took the country – and the footballing world in general – by surprise.
“The most important thing is match fixing. If we have games that are crooked, that means that this is a competition where things are not in order,” Tebas told the Marca sports daily newspaper.
Expanding on that theme, he admitted he had been approached by “more than one” player who had been involved in rigging games. “I have spoken about it with the players’ union and with directors at clubs. There is a kind of misplaced brotherhood. When teams are on the edge you get a league where anything goes.
“We have to take a step forward in denouncing what is happening. These are isolated cases but it is happening. We are making progress. In the past nobody said anything.”
Tebas, who declined to name the alleged culprits, said this ‘anything goes’ mentality had to change.
“This must be ended and the clubs are in agreement with me. I am not going to put a pistol to anyone’s head to make them speak up but I would be grateful if they could come forward.”
Tebas appeared to be referring not to Spanish matches being fixed by illegal south-east Asian betting syndicates, rather that some clubs were being paid to throw matches to help rivals avoid relegation.
“Any rumour or telephone call in which I am told that this might be happening will be reported to the relevant authorities,” Tebas said.
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