By Andrew Warshaw
March 11 – The full scale of corruption in Cypriot football has been exposed by a referee whistleblower who claims officials are regularly deciding the outcome of games on orders from above.
Marios Panayi says he turned whistleblower because he couldn’t tolerate the level of match-fixing that has seen the credibility of his profession plummet.
Panayi alleges incorrect calls are deliberately made on the instructions of an unnamed senior Cyprus Football Association official who he claims manipulates results to keep himself in power and negotiate lucrative television deals.
“I felt I had to speak out, so that finally people can know what is going on and authorities can take action to fix what I’ve dedicated my life to,” Panayi, who has not worked as a referee since giving evidence to the authorities, told The Associated Press, saying he has handed over documents to back up his charges.
Back in January, Panayi came forward with match-rigging allegations that prompted Cyprus FA chief Costakis Koutsokoumnis to admit that the top division in his country was plagued by the problem and that he had been given evidence by UEFA of 17 suspicious first division games.
According to Cypriot reports at the time that could not be verified, Panayi’s allegations claimed the Cyprus FA’s deputy chairman Yiorgos Koumas was at the heart of the problem, heaping negative publicity on a federation that has been widely praised for its efforts at trying to bring about footballing re-unification with the Turkish-controlled north of the divided island.
When asked about Panayi’s latest claims, UEFA told the AP it is “working closely with the Cyprus FA and cannot comment on ongoing investigations.”
Already this season, Cypriot football has suffered a number of firebomb attacks against homes and vehicles linked to referees. In January, officials boycotted league and cup games for a week after an attack at the home of a referee’s elderly mother. Three months earlier, a pipe bomb was placed at the entrance to the Cyprus Referee Association’s Nicosia clubhouse, heightening concerns about protecting match officials.
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