February 6 – Burkina Faso coach Paul Put is among 31 defendants in a Belgian match-fixing trial that started this week.
Those in the dock are accused of fixing professional games in the country though the chief suspect, a Chinese businessman, is still at large.
Belgian prosecutors say alleged ringleader Zheyun Ye paid up to €1.6 million euros to fix the results of as many as 18 games from 2004 to 2006.
Put was not present in the Brussels court either, having already given a sworn deposition to investigators.
Lawyers involved in the case say it took nearly 10 years for the trial, which is expected to last around one month, to come to court.
Put, when quizzed about his role in the affair while at the Africa Cup of Nations last year, said he was forced into complying. The Belgian served a three-year ban for his alleged part in the scandal whilst in charge of Lierse in 2004-5 but said he was under huge pressure.
“I was threatened by the mafia, my children were threatened, the mafia threatened me with weapons and things like that so it’s not nice to talk about these things but this is the reality,” said Put who also coached Gambia for four years before taking over Burkina Faso.
“I was forced into it. But fixing is a big word. At that time Belgian football was in a bad way. There was no hope, no money. It’s not that I was involved in match-fixing, not at all, but it’s been portrayed like that in the media.
“And remember, I was just the coach. I had to listen to people above me and the players as well. I was made the scapegoat but other teams were doing the same, not only Lierse.”
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