Sports / Soccer
Blatter threatens life ban for Zimbabwe soccer match fixers
05 Jul 2011 at 06:48hrs | Views
FIFA head Joseph Sepp Blatter threatened life-time bans for those found guilty in the Zimbabwe football matches.
This was said after FIFA officially opened an investigation into allegations of match-fixing by the Zimbabwe Football Association.
"We can't intervene at this early stage, but when those people are condemned and found guilty we will ban them for life, they will not be allowed back into football," Blatter declared as he wound up his one-day visit to this southern African country.
At issue were games in 2009 in Asia.
In the Zimbabwe association's (ZIFA) own investigation, five players, including Zimbabwe stand-in skipper Method Mwanjali, admitted to receiving between 500 and 1,500 Zimbabwe dollars for losing to Thailand (3-0) and Syria (6-0).
FIFA security chief Chris Eaton arrived in Zimbabwe on Sunday ahead of Blatter with two match-fixing investigators.
"We are working with Interpol and the governments. What FIFA is doing is to clean up the situation," Eaton said.
The Asia 2009 games have already cost one person a job. Last year, then-ZIFA chief executive Henrietta Rushwaya was dismissed for sending teams abroad without authorization and for mismanagement of funds. The matches were linked to be a betting syndicate and were placed under inquiry.
ZIFA submitted the results of that investigation to FIFA.
Besides meeting the country's football administrators, Blatter met President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai.
He also watched a regional women's tournament being hosted by Zimbabwe.
Blatter was to next travel to South Africa for an International Olympic Committee meeting on Tuesday.
This was said after FIFA officially opened an investigation into allegations of match-fixing by the Zimbabwe Football Association.
"We can't intervene at this early stage, but when those people are condemned and found guilty we will ban them for life, they will not be allowed back into football," Blatter declared as he wound up his one-day visit to this southern African country.
At issue were games in 2009 in Asia.
In the Zimbabwe association's (ZIFA) own investigation, five players, including Zimbabwe stand-in skipper Method Mwanjali, admitted to receiving between 500 and 1,500 Zimbabwe dollars for losing to Thailand (3-0) and Syria (6-0).
FIFA security chief Chris Eaton arrived in Zimbabwe on Sunday ahead of Blatter with two match-fixing investigators.
"We are working with Interpol and the governments. What FIFA is doing is to clean up the situation," Eaton said.
The Asia 2009 games have already cost one person a job. Last year, then-ZIFA chief executive Henrietta Rushwaya was dismissed for sending teams abroad without authorization and for mismanagement of funds. The matches were linked to be a betting syndicate and were placed under inquiry.
ZIFA submitted the results of that investigation to FIFA.
Besides meeting the country's football administrators, Blatter met President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai.
He also watched a regional women's tournament being hosted by Zimbabwe.
Blatter was to next travel to South Africa for an International Olympic Committee meeting on Tuesday.
Source - .
