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Media raise match-fixing allegations
Russia - 15 November, 2006
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Russian clubs and referees are under fire for odd outcomes that have been labeled match-fixing.
TV presenter and commentator Vasily Utkin came right out and said the Russian Premier Liga match between Rostov and CSKA Moscow was fixed. Reigning league champions CSKA won the match 2-1, placing the army club are three points above second-place Spartak Moscow with two games to play this season.
CSKA then lost 2-0 to Krylya Sovetov in Samara.
CSKA president Yevgeny Giner vowed to file suit against Utkin, denying the allegations.
"The league is swarmed with match fixing," Utkin said. "There is not a single clean team."
The Saint Petersburg Parliament appealed to Russian Prosecutor General Yury Chaika to investigate clubs and referees. During this season bookmakers refused to receive bets on certain matches.
Referees have been dropped for "not being professional". One instance was with the officials at the CSKA-Zenit Saint Petersburg match on 5 November, which CSKA won 1-0 thanks to a penalty dubbed "dubious" by a special commission.
Referee Vladimir Pettay also disallowed two seemingly legal goals by Zenit and Russian international striker Andrey Arshavin. Pettay, who was suspended until the end of the season, admitted the mistakes.
Zenit, coached by former Rangers and Dutch coach Dick Advokaat, urged CSKA to replay the game, but Giner, who is also the rotating Liga president, said it would have broken the league rules.
Russian Football Union (RFU) president Vitaly Mutko promised "to go a long way and punish the culprits in an Italian way."
Russian – and Soviet – football has never seen anyone punished for match fixing, though players, including former Dinamo Kiev and Spartak Moscow striker Sergei Yuran admitted that they took part in fixed matches.
In the 1970s, football authorities introduced post-match penalty shootouts to avoid draws, usually a result of a fixed match. In the 1980s limits were placed on the number of draws.
TV presenter and commentator Vasily Utkin came right out and said the Russian Premier Liga match between Rostov and CSKA Moscow was fixed. Reigning league champions CSKA won the match 2-1, placing the army club are three points above second-place Spartak Moscow with two games to play this season.
CSKA then lost 2-0 to Krylya Sovetov in Samara.
CSKA president Yevgeny Giner vowed to file suit against Utkin, denying the allegations.
"The league is swarmed with match fixing," Utkin said. "There is not a single clean team."
The Saint Petersburg Parliament appealed to Russian Prosecutor General Yury Chaika to investigate clubs and referees. During this season bookmakers refused to receive bets on certain matches.
Referees have been dropped for "not being professional". One instance was with the officials at the CSKA-Zenit Saint Petersburg match on 5 November, which CSKA won 1-0 thanks to a penalty dubbed "dubious" by a special commission.
Referee Vladimir Pettay also disallowed two seemingly legal goals by Zenit and Russian international striker Andrey Arshavin. Pettay, who was suspended until the end of the season, admitted the mistakes.
Zenit, coached by former Rangers and Dutch coach Dick Advokaat, urged CSKA to replay the game, but Giner, who is also the rotating Liga president, said it would have broken the league rules.
Russian Football Union (RFU) president Vitaly Mutko promised "to go a long way and punish the culprits in an Italian way."
Russian – and Soviet – football has never seen anyone punished for match fixing, though players, including former Dinamo Kiev and Spartak Moscow striker Sergei Yuran admitted that they took part in fixed matches.
In the 1970s, football authorities introduced post-match penalty shootouts to avoid draws, usually a result of a fixed match. In the 1980s limits were placed on the number of draws.
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