November 14 – Former Nigeria international Dickson Etuhu has been found guilty of attempted match-fixing in Sweden where he last played.
The Court of Appeal in Stockholm said it was clear that Etuhu and an unnamed former player tried to influence AIK keeper Kyriakos ‘Kenny’ Stamatopoulos to fix a match in Sweden’s top division in May 2017 between AIK and IFK Gothenburg.
Etuhu, who played for several English clubs including Manchester City, Sunderland, Preston, Blackburn and Fulham, escaped a jail sentence but was instead fined and sentenced to serve probation.
Etuhu played 20 times for the Super Eagles including twice at the Africa Cup of Nations in 2008 and 2010 as well as the World Cup in South Africa. The 37-year-old, who left AIK Solna in 2016, says he will be appealing against the ruling at the Supreme Court.
The court of appeal said that “the content of what the men submitted to the player (Stamatopoulos) was so clear that it should be considered a criminal offer of bribe.”
Etuhu had initially been acquitted by a court last year which decided there was not enough evidence of a concrete monetary offer being made to Stamatopoulos, AIK’s reserve goalkeeper at the time.
But that was appealed by prosecutor Johan Lindmark, who told Swedish newspaper Expressen that he was satisfied with Wednesday’s outcome.
“I had appealed on the grounds that I thought the court of law would change and was not surprised when I saw the verdict,” he said.
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