FPF
PC investigates manipulation of results in 40 investigations. Scheme carried out by international criminal networks pays players for seemingly harmless acts during a match, such as corners. More specific bets are placed on foreign and illegal platforms.
An investigation conducted by the Judiciary Police (PJ) currently has 40 investigations underway, investigating the result manipulation in Portuguese football.
The phenomenon is often driven by international criminal networks, which offer players from the three main national leagues bribes of more than 7,500 euros per game to influence results, according to this Sunday.
The aim is to benefit bettors in fraudulent schemes, especially through regulated and illegal betting markets.
How the scheme works
The players recruited are, most of the time, poorly paid professionals or those with unpaid wages. Fraudulent actions can include seemingly harmless gestures, such as causing a corner early in the game, committing fouls to receive yellow cards or scoring own goals. These plays, planned in advance, allow significant profits through betting on specific events.
According to Luís Ribeiro, coordinator of the PJ’s National Anti-Corruption Unit, corruptors recruit intermediaries to convince athletes, who “given the salary they earn consider that the risk is low: the player “creates in his own head the idea that the Devaluation is also not relevant, because in reality it is not harming the team”, he explains.
Often these intermediaries are former players who played in leagues more associated with corruption and who establish a bridge between criminal networks and Portuguese football. They minimize the seriousness of the scheme to the players, arguing that the actions do not necessarily harm their teams.
Although the Portuguese betting market is restricted to professional competitions, foreign and illegal platforms they allow speculation about lower divisions and even less regulated sports.
PJ’s response
To face this threat, the PJ created a team specializing in the fight against the manipulation of sports results. The investigations are based on complaints, in addition to alerts issued by lottery outlets that identify abnormal volumes of activity.
Coordinator Luís Ribeiro explains that the focus is on practices such as manipulation of the number of goalsone of the categories most exploited by criminals. The strategy includes monitoring suspicious movements and tracking those responsible.
