By Andrew Warshaw
March 27 – FIFA are to send their Director of Security Ralf Mutschke to Sierra Leone to help tackle a match-fixing crisis that has caused deep division between sports administrators and government officials.
Earlier this month, Insideworldfootball reported exclusively that FIFA president Sepp Blatter had written directly to Sierra Leone president Ernest Bai Koroma calling on him to support the match-fixing probe being undertaken by the national football federation (SLFA) led by Isha Johansen. The letter urged Koroma to back the internal committee conducting the investigation and to “support your country’s football association in its fight against this ill.”
Mutschke will now travel to the country, where sport generally has taken a backseat because of the Ebola virus, to meet with Johansen as well as key governmental personnel.
In a statement, FIFA said the upcoming trip underlines its continued commitment to assisting the SLFA in its fight against corruption and match manipulation.
“While it’s the responsibility of the SLFA and the Sierra Leonean authorities to tackle match manipulation matters at local level, FIFA is dedicated to providing support on this issue to the SLFA as we do with all of our other member associations,” said Mutschke.
“We also continue to look at preventative measures as a sustainable solution to combat the global match manipulation problem. We welcome the efforts currently being undertaken by the SLFA. Match manipulation is a global problem that requires a coordinated response by all stakeholders involved in football.”
Earlier this month, it was announced that the Sierra Leone Ministry of Sport had lifted the suspensions of 15 players and officials alleged to have been caught up in match manipulation. They included five players, notably ex-Sierra Leone captain Ibrahim Kargbo, who were being specifically investigated by the SLFA. Johansen described the lifting of the ban as ” unprofessional, unethical and unpatriotic.”
Last week, Blatter made a point of telling politicians to stay out of football. “There has been increasingly more interference (in football) with cases in Africa, in Europe, in South America. In a nutshell, stop this political interference in sport,” Blatter told a news conference.
His comments may have been directed mainly at Ukraine’s call on its allies on to boycott the 2018 World Cup if Russia did not pull its troops out of the east of the country but also applied worldwide.
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