April 15 – Bulgarian football is facing yet another potential match-fixing scandal following allegations of games being manipulated in the country’s second division.
The Bulgarian Football Union (BFU) has reported the claims to police in the southwestern town of Blagoevgrad.
The BFU said in a brief statement that the alert was linked to “statements surfacing in the public domain in the past days about match-fixing in the B League”, without providing further details.
It said representatives of five clubs, Septemvri Simitli, Lokomotiv Mezdra, Vereya Stara Zagora, Botev Vratsa and Pirin Razlog, would be summoned by the BFU’s ethics and fair play committee.
Septemvri, Botev and Lokomotiv sparked a row last week by directly accusing Vereya of bribing referees as well as opposition players in order to avoid relegation. Lokomotiv accused referee Nikolay Andreev of “blatantly influencing” the outcome of their match at Vereya.
“What happened was a mockery to us,” Lokomotiv captain Nikolay Tsvetkov told local media.
“The referee was trying to provoke us during the whole game. He warned us that he would award the hosts a penalty. Even the hosts laughed at his decisions.”
Vereya denied the accusations.
Accusations of match-fixing and illegal betting practices in Bulgarian football have been rife in the past years but little proof has emerged in terms of holding anyone accountable.
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