Image of a football stadium in Gibraltar. /
Corruption
The alleged criminal organization, with its epicenter in Sanlúcar de Barrameda, was made up of players who took advantage of their condition to agree on results in teams under their influence
At least ten footballers have been arrested in the provinces of Badajoz, Seville, Almería and Cádiz for match-fixing in the RFEF Second and Third Division and in the Gibraltar league. The police action has its epicenter in the Cadiz town of Sanlúcar de Barrameda, as revealed by ‘El Confidencial’. The detainees have been accused of alleged crimes of belonging to a criminal organization, corruption between individuals in the sports field and fraud against game operators.
Presumably, the criminal organization had been operating since at least May 2021, when they were detected by the Directorate General for the Regulation of Gambling for the irregular behavior of the betting market on the occasion of a Third Division match. The investigation, carried out by the National Police and under summary secrecy, is open, so more arrests are not ruled out, and it is counting on the support of Europol and Interpol.
The organization “was divided into several levels and made up of soccer players who took advantage of their condition to organize sports fixes in teams under their influence,” according to the Police. Once the sporting event was predetermined, the organization placed bets on fixed matches, obtaining great profits.
Two footballers from Atlético Sanluqueño have been arrested, although the Cadiz club that this season has played in the First RFEF and has been relegated to the Second RFEF is outside the plot. “The club has never been investigated, being oblivious to all these facts and in the most absolute ignorance. If the same are confirmed, and always respecting the presumption of innocence, Atlético Sanluqueño will take the appropriate measures that it deems necessary on the players or any person involved that is related to the club,” the club reported in a statement.
In professional and semi-professional football, 99% of the 7,809 games analyzed by LaLiga last season are free of fixes, as announced on Tuesday by the association of clubs chaired by Javier Tebas. In the First and Second Divisions, no potential case of match-fixing has been found in the 369 games in LaLiga Santander or in the 432 in LaLiga Smartbank.
The number of complaints has been reduced to only 13 in the 2021-2022 campaign, none of them in professional football, and a third of those five years ago, according to LaLiga.
