THIRD footballer to be charged as part of match-fixing probe

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A third footballer has been charged as part of an investigation into alleged match-fixing.

Moses Swaibu, 24, a former Conference South footballer from Croydon, south London, is accused of conspiracy to defraud and will appear at Cannock Magistrates’ Court in Staffordshire on Tuesday.

He is the fifth person and third player to be charged in connection with the National Crime Agency probe into an alleged illegal betting syndicate.

The other two players who are facing charges are Michael Boateng and Hakeem Adelakun, both 22, who are footballers with Conference South team Whitehawk FC. They are also accused of conspiracy to defraud.

Chann Sankaran, a 33-year-old Singapore national, and Krishna Sanjey Ganeshan, a 43-year-old with dual UK and Singapore nationality, are charged with the same offence.

It is alleged that they were all involved with an international betting syndicate that tried to fix matches that members would gamble on.

The allegations emerged following an investigation by the Daily Telegraph during which undercover reporters discussed the possibility of influencing the scores and outcomes of lower-league English games for sums from £50,000.  Read More

Graham Hunter: What Celtic must do to get a result against Barcelona (and my 12/5 tip)

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Spanish football expert Graham Hunter previews the Champions League game between Celtic and Barcelona. Here’s what Celtic must do to get a result tonight…

There was once a bit of the Dr Bruce Banner about FC Barcelona. Ok, not the green skin and the tendency to overturn cars, but the ‘Don’t make me angry, you wouldn’t like me when I’m angry’ bit was true enough.

Over the last few years when teams had the temerity to catch Barça on a bad day and push them around, or to deny them the joy of skipping around the pitch with the ball by choking their space and thinking time then, sooner or later, there’d be a pay back.

Immediately within that game, next time they met, sometimes over and over again: ‘That’ll teach you.’

But it’s to Celtic’s great advantage that while that spirit is still central to the ‘Cogigo ergo sum’ – I play therefore I am – attitude of this team, the mind is willing but the physique is weak.

You don’t take points off players like Xavi, Iniesta, Valdés or Busquets in the manner Celtic did last season without it rankling.

Revenge? No, that’s not their guiding thought process. But, like big Jack Charlton used to have a little black book of accounts pending, for bruises and late tackles, so the Barça boys still remember where they need to address issues from a previous meeting – just to try to restore their football feng shui. Getting the three points is of supreme importance, but putting things back in order will be in their heads too.

SOCCER: Champions League Day 2, Tuesday Oct 1

Barca brutes no more

While Barcelona have been the dominant European team over the last seven years it’s natural that a great deal of focus has been on their technical excellence, their attacking flair, their playing system and also on the fact that two of three of these players, Ronaldinho in his day, Xavi, Iniesta and of course Messi, will rank amongst the greatest that any of us can expect to see in our lifetimes.

What sometimes gets pushed aside is the fact that they used to be a brute to play against. Physically very strong, ferocious in their pressing and constantly working at an incredible rate of knots.

That’s not so true any more. The gradually frittering away of players like Yaya Touré, Seydou Keita, Thierry Henry, Edmilson, Rafa Marquez, Samuel Eto’o and the injury damage age is doing to Carles Puyol means this is a more delicate Barça side. In body if not in mind.

Gerard Pique

TALL ORDER: Gerard Pique (seeing off the challenge of Conor Sammon at the Euros) is raring to go vs Celtic

Tata carries same issues as Tito

This is still an exceptional team. It is still very hungry, it still has a cobra-like ability to pounce on moments of inattention or error.

But even though the new coach, Tata Martino, is an extremely interesting football student, has clear and well articulated ideas and even though he’s showing a very firm hand in rotating the team with absolutely no fear of resting the biggest names, he carries some of the same problems into this match that Tito Vilanova did.

Gerard Piqué is on athletic, hungry form and didn’t play for the large part of the defeat here last year but, around him, Barcelona haven’t added any height to deal with the aerial problems they have at set pieces into the box and the diagonal ball in from open play.

Under Martino the Catalan defence is man-for-man rather than zonal and, perhaps, that will make a difference in due course. At Celtic Park they’ll be tested.

Celtic simply must score first

Another part of Barcelona’s repertoire which was like a pair of steely jaws clamped on your ankle but which is now showing rust is how  they do (or in fact often don’t) close games off once they are leading. Saturday’s 2-0 win at Almeria being an interesting exception.

It’s still absolutely vital for Celtic get the first goal if they want a chance of repeating last year’s excellence. But there was once a time that if Barcelona scored first they almost never released the choke-hold in a game that mattered to them. Not quite so true any more.

The pressing has changed, too. It’s beginning to work under Martino but there is geographical alteration. Under Pep Guardiola, in the golden years, the pressure began on the edge of the opponents’ box. Martino’s idea is that the central maelstrom of pressure on the opponents should be about three-quarter of the way up the pitch with strikers and wing backs pressing vertically, like a pincer, and midfielder moving in horizontally.

Right now, notwithstanding Messi’s absence, Barcelona are sharper, firmer and better prepared for this test than they were 11 months ago. They shape up as single goal winners (12/5), I think.

But invulnerable? No, not that.

  • Celtic v Barcelona betting: Fancy Barca to win by one goal at 12/5? Crunch into the latest odds here >

Graham Hunter is the author of the award-winning book, Barca: The Making of the Greatest Team in the World. There’s a new book on Spain about to drop. Graham is a regular contributor to the Paddy Power Blog on football and an all-round good guy. Follow him on Twitter here

Dive into Hunter’s archives on the Paddy Power Blog here


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Graham Hunter: What Celtic must do to get a result against ‘weak’ Barcelona

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Spanish football expert Graham Hunter previews the Champions League game between Celtic and Barcelona. Here’s what Celtic must do to get a result tonight…

There was once a bit of the Dr Bruce Banner about FC Barcelona. Ok, not the green skin and the tendency to overturn cars, but the ‘Don’t make me angry, you wouldn’t like me when I’m angry’ bit was true enough.

Over the last few years when teams had the temerity to catch Barça on a bad day and push them around, or to deny them the joy of skipping around the pitch with the ball by choking their space and thinking time then, sooner or later, there’d be a pay back.

Immediately within that game, next time they met, sometimes over and over again: ‘That’ll teach you.’

But it’s to Celtic’s great advantage that while that spirit is still central to the ‘Cogigo ergo sum’ – I play therefore I am – attitude of this team, the mind is willing but the physique is weak.

You don’t take points off players like Xavi, Iniesta, Valdés or Busquets in the manner Celtic did last season without it rankling.

Revenge? No, that’s not their guiding thought process. But, like big Jack Charlton used to have a little black book of accounts pending, for bruises and late tackles, so the Barça boys still remember where they need to address issues from a previous meeting – just to try to restore their football feng shui. Getting the three points is of supreme importance, but putting things back in order will be in their heads too.

SOCCER: Champions League Day 2, Tuesday Oct 1

Barca brutes no more

While Barcelona have been the dominant European team over the last seven years it’s natural that a great deal of focus has been on their technical excellence, their attacking flair, their playing system and also on the fact that two of three of these players, Ronaldinho in his day, Xavi, Iniesta and of course Messi, will rank amongst the greatest that any of us can expect to see in our lifetimes.

What sometimes gets pushed aside is the fact that they used to be a brute to play against. Physically very strong, ferocious in their pressing and constantly working at an incredible rate of knots.

That’s not so true any more. The gradually frittering away of players like Yaya Touré, Seydou Keita, Thierry Henry, Edmilson, Rafa Marquez, Samuel Eto’o and the injury damage age is doing to Carles Puyol means this is a more delicate Barça side. In body if not in mind.

Gerard Pique

TALL ORDER: Gerard Pique (seeing off the challenge of Conor Sammon at the Euros) is raring to go vs Celtic

Tata carries same issues as Tito

This is still an exceptional team. It is still very hungry, it still has a cobra-like ability to pounce on moments of inattention or error.

But even though the new coach, Tata Martino, is an extremely interesting football student, has clear and well articulated ideas and even though he’s showing a very firm hand in rotating the team with absolutely no fear of resting the biggest names, he carries some of the same problems into this match that Tito Vilanova did.

Gerard Piqué is on athletic, hungry form and didn’t play for the large part of the defeat here last year but, around him, Barcelona haven’t added any height to deal with the aerial problems they have at set pieces into the box and the diagonal ball in from open play.

Under Martino the Catalan defence is man-for-man rather than zonal and, perhaps, that will make a difference in due course. At Celtic Park they’ll be tested.

Celtic simply must score first

Another part of Barcelona’s repertoire which was like a pair of steely jaws clamped on your ankle but which is now showing rust is how  they do (or in fact often don’t) close games off once they are leading. Saturday’s 2-0 win at Almeria being an interesting exception.

It’s still absolutely vital for Celtic get the first goal if they want a chance of repeating last year’s excellence. But there was once a time that if Barcelona scored first they almost never released the choke-hold in a game that mattered to them. Not quite so true any more.

The pressing has changed, too. It’s beginning to work under Martino but there is geographical alteration. Under Pep Guardiola, in the golden years, the pressure began on the edge of the opponents’ box. Martino’s idea is that the central maelstrom of pressure on the opponents should be about three-quarter of the way up the pitch with strikers and wing backs pressing vertically, like a pincer, and midfielder moving in horizontally.

Right now, notwithstanding Messi’s absence, Barcelona are sharper, firmer and better prepared for this test than they were 11 months ago. They shape up as single goal winners, I think.

But invulnerable? No, not that.

  • Celtic v Barcelona betting: Fancy Barca to win by one goal at 12/5? Crunch into the latest odds here >

Graham Hunter is the author of the award-winning book, Barca: The Making of the Greatest Team in the World. There’s a new book on Spain about to drop. Graham is a regular contributor to the Paddy Power Blog on football and an all-round good guy. Follow him on Twitter here

Dive into Hunter’s archives on the Paddy Power Blog here


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Graham Hunter exclusive: Keeping Ronaldo sweet post-Bale is Madrid’s biggest challenge

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European football expert Graham Hunter on how Carlos Ancellotti can get the best from Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale to keep a star-studded Real Madrid purring.

Carlos Queiroz was a failure as coach of Real Madrid. But part of the solution to Gareth Bale starting his Bernabéu career well and in a positive environment actually lies in the work of the Portuguese former assistant to Sir Alex Ferguson.

During spring and summer 2007 Queiroz came up with the theory that Ronaldo would benefit United if he were played predominantly down the middle and that a sudden change of orientation would help challenge the already prodigious player.

Queiroz told more than one confidant:

He’s the kind of guy for whom the ceiling is always too low. Cristiano needs to be challenged, needs to be pushed out of a comfort zone because he’s so good that he’ll always respond to such a situation.

The Champions League, the Premier League, European Golden Boot, FIFA World Player, the Ballon D’Or and 42 goals later it didn’t seem like a bad piece of deduction and invention from Ferguson’s sidekick.

The one problem is that Ronaldo didn’t enjoy the experience. He often phoned one particular ally, ex-United fitness coach Valter Di Salvo, to unburden his blues about where he was being played.

Ronaldo

YOU WANT ME TO PLAY WHERE?  Keeping Ronaldo sweet is key to Madrid’s title ambitions

Flash forward to summer 2013.

Carlo Ancelotti knew when he signed up for duty at the Bernabéu that Bale was joining Madrid. Having mused over some ideas the Italian figured that one terrific way to accommodate a new signing in whose selection he’d played no part, was to use Ronaldo as a striker, not off the wing, and to use Bale either wide right or wide left.

On the blackboard it makes full football sense. Ronaldo was prolific last time he played there. Bale is a snug fit to this team if he’s raking down the left or the right and shooting on sight as is his signature – more pace, more power, more goals. Everybody’s happy.

Cue a deterioration in Real Madrid’s play, Ronaldo’s scoring rate and his demeanour. He didn’t like playing out-and-out striker then and he doesn’t now.

The cutest thing Ancelotti can do right now, so that Ronaldo looks upon the Welshman not a threat but a guy with similar talents, attitudes and athleticism who can help them all win big trophies – is to restore the Portuguese to his left-wing position.

It would mean, in all likelihood, an alteration to the formation – back to 4-2-3-1.

Carlo Ancelotti

MAN IN THE MIDDLE: Carlo Ancelotti must get the Bale/Ronaldo balance right (pic: Inpho)

 

What does this mean for Bale?

There is one clear, potentially very productive berth for Bale and that’s down the right. It would displace one of the stars of this early season, Angel Di Maria … but that’s life at Madrid.

Bale at full tilt down the right and either crossing to find Ronaldo’s head or, more likely, cutting in to shoot at goal off his devastating left foot – is an attractive prospect.

The only dilemma is how to keep Alonso [when fit again] Illarramendi [ €40m this summer], Khedira [German World Cup stalwart], Modric [fan favourite and Bale chaperone] plus Casemiro [bought this summer] happy when there is only a two-man midfield. Again, over to you Carlo.

But there is an option which would work, which would draw on Ancelotti’s successful past and which would accommodate Di Maria – a clever, old-fashioned winger who opens up tight defences.

When Ancelotti was at his most successful at Milan, Kaká was at his footballing and athletic peak.

He played in front of a hard-working midfield, Seedorf, Ambrosini, Gattuso, and was given license to power down the middle of the pitch using his Olympic acceleration, shooting from distance and/or laying the ball off to wide players and looking for the return into the box.

Remind you of anybody? Welsh? Name of Bale?

BALE FORCE: Gareth Bale tore Inter Milan a new one in the Champions League

BALE FORCE: The Welshman can tear it up in La Liga if given room to roam

There will be a myriad of games at the Bernabéu when Ancelotti’s Madrid face 10 men behind the ball and the frustration of trying to unpick massed-rank defences.

One extra solution, which Madrid have only been able to apply via the (now departed) Özil-Ronaldo connection until now is when they catch the opposition too high up the pitch, particularly at an attacking corner, allowing the then Jose Mourinho’s side to break at high pace. They’ll continue with that and Bale will thrive.

However, with Bale, there are scenarios now where Madrid can pick the ball up not far beyond the half-way line and, even if the opposition are not caught in disarray, allow Bale to run at them.

Most top technical departments around Europe have been left wondering this summer whether Bale’s excellence relies on him athletically powering past a slalom of players – rather than having the close skills ['a trick'] to jink past defenders from a static start.

One way to allow that debate to develop slowly, rather than to be immediately in the spotlight, is for Bale to take up different positions. This depends of course on how Ancelotti wants to play against certain rivals and whether Madrid are at home or away.

Away from home, with two holding midfielders and Bale on the right. Home with Di Maria wide right and Bale playing off one holding midfielder.

Equally, if Ronaldo is on the left and Bale playing down the middle then the prospect of Di Maria’s devastating crossing from the right adds a greater likelihood of headed goals.

Right foot for standing on?

Of all the times the Welshman has hit the net for club and country you can still count his right-footed goals on the fingers of one hand.

However, the percentage of times he hits the net with a header has been steadily increasing year on year.

Not something Ancelotti’s scouting team has missed in their analysis of the new boy.

Welcome to Spain Mr Bale. These are exciting times, not only for you but for those of us who wish that excellent British footballers would more often opt to better themselves and develop as individuals in some of the continent’s top clubs.

PS: Try to keep on Cristiano’s good side. Whether that’s the left, the right or … down the middle.

Bale_ACCA

  • Betting: Villarreal v Real Madrid  
  • Read more Graham Hunter articles here 

Graham Hunter is the author of the award-winning book, Barca: The Making of the Greatest Team in the World. He is a regular contributor to the Paddy Power Blog on football and an all-round good guy. Follow him on Twitter here


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Graham Hunter: Will Ronaldo return to Manchester United? Here’s what you need to know…

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Spanish football expert Graham Hunter reveals the role Chevrolet and Nike could play in Ronaldo’s transfer to Manchester United from Real Madrid, but suggests it still might not be enough, due to the influence of the great Zinedine Zidane…

Here is a stone cold fact. There is a much-better-than-evens chance that Cristiano Ronaldo will return to play for Manchester United.

In fact, right now, that idea is very much part of the plans of both the Old Trafford legend and his immensely powerful agent Jorge Mendes.

However, that’s only the ‘whether’. The ‘how’ and the ‘when’ very much remain subject to whim, vast sums of money, the player’s will and an absolutely fascinating battle – Sir Alex Ferguson v Zinedine Zidane.

Fergie, when he was young, had a much more elegant and cultured left foot than people now recall. It was WELL within his talents to exceed 1000 keepie uppies before the ball hit the ground.

But, Zizou he was not.

Ronaldo’s goal stats for Man United and Real Madrid

Ronaldo statsbomb

Why Ronaldo and Ferguson are bound forever

However Ferguson is patently the Zidane of modern football management. He also inspires trust, affection and respect from Ronaldo. As disparate are the two men’s attitudes as to how life is to be led, what constitutes ‘fashionable’ and whether conspicuous consumption is or isn’t the eighth deadly sin, the Portuguese and the Scot are unified by one thing above all else: an ability to dedicate themselves ruthlessly to winning.

Many talk about it, very few are capable of it.

Like MENSA members (or Masons), such people instantly recognize each other and either bond forever or become implacable enemies.

Ronaldo and Ferguson are bound forever.

United know, have known for a long, long time, that life at Real Madrid is NOT the dream ticket Ronaldo imagined it would be.

While they benefitted from an £80m transfer fee, the real reason Ferguson and United allowed Ronaldo to leave for the Spanish capital is directly equated to the reason Ferguson let Carlos Queiroz go there too.

Some, particularly in Iberia, don’t simply view, but feel in their soul, that Real Madrid is the most toweringly important club in the history of football.

His problems at Real Madrid

Yes, yes, okay. Ronaldo was going to earn shedloads of money for going there, as was his agent. But the trigger, the reason for yearning to go was not cash.

Ronaldo desperately wanted to play for Madrid, add his name alongside (even above) those of Gento, Di Stefano, Raúl, Figo and Zidane.

Ferguson understood.

Unless you get that concept, then you won’t get what’s going on in his mind right now.

While in Spain Ronaldo has seen his Ballon D’Or status evaporated by Messi and, professionally, he’s endured more frustration than elation.

His personal form doesn’t need discussing. He’s scored more than a goal per game, very nearly as many away as at home, and he’s certainly a more complete team player now, aged 28, than when he left Old Trafford.

But Real Madrid has been a let down. He has three medals from his four seasons, but only one that would rank of supreme importance to him (despite his brilliant winning header in the Copa Del Rey final of 2010), which is the exceptional Liga victory of 2011/12.

Zinedine Zidane

INFLUENCE: Ferguson, in his new role, is up against Real Madrid legend Zinedine Zidane

Internal politics rage in the Perez fiefdom

Was United under Sir Alex a fiefdom? Yes, in a wholly positive sense, it probably was. There Ronaldo felt protected, developed, trusted, backed in public with coruscating rhetoric – valued. United felt like a high performance organisation.

Madrid hasn’t. It’s currently Florentino Pérez’s fiefdom and, now, will be for a further four years given the uncontested Presidential elections earlier this summer.

But it’s a place where internal politics rage, where Jose Mourinho’s putsch to gain precisely the overall power which Sir Alex earned over the years at Old Trafford didn’t end up benefitting Ronaldo – it’s a high performance organisation, which is under performing.

It’s also a mirage that because Mourinho and Ronaldo share a nationality and an agent that all was sweetness and light between them. It wasn’t.

Ronaldo, coincidentally, is constructed the same way as Ferguson. Dominate opponents, thrash opponents when you can, play on the front foot all the time, add goals when the chance is there, entertain – adhere to the ruthless need to win, but do it via attacking football.

If you asked Ronaldo what Mourinho would have done on the touchline of the Camp Nou in 1999 when Teddy Sheringham equalised in the Champions League final against Bayern Munich and assistant Steve McClaren was urging closing the 90 minutes out so that extra time was a guarantee, he’d know the answer alright. And he’d disagree.

Mourinho got it wrong at Real

The sad thing for Madrid fans is that Ronaldo, while setting new standards of professionalism, dedication, excellence and scoring, has made it clear where he diverges from the party line at Madrid.

It was Ronaldo waving his team forward, against team orders, when they went on to lose 0-2 at home to Barca in the 2010 Champions League semi final.

His idea was right, it was the Madridista idea – Mourinho proved to have got it wrong.

When he admitted he was ‘sad’ last Autumn he underlined with complete sincerity, that he wasn’t asking for more money, for a better contract.

It was true.

He was making it clear that a) he didn’t feel that there was the right unity and desire at the club b) that Real Madrid was repeatedly guilty of not ‘protecting’ him in public, (even the President not accompanying him to institutional events) and c) he yearned for more spectacular football.

Ronaldo v Barcelona calm down

The options for Ronaldo now

Ronaldo has two more years on his Madrid contract.

Now, right now, is the red ‘danger’ zone for the club if they don’t renew him. IF they cannot convince him to renew before the end of the season then…

  • a) The summer will be eaten up by the World Cup and then holidays and he’ll return for duty just a few months from being able to sign for anyone he pleased on January 1 2015. For free.
  • b) They will be faced with the thorny choice of selling him cut price in late summer 2014 or taking the ‘Hail Mary’ approach of letting him enter his last year of contract in the hope of persuading him to stay – but with the risk of needing to sell.

Their main weapons, now, are not only new coach Carlo Ancelotti (whose words “we need to play spectacularly, this is Real Madrid” won’t have displeased Ronaldo) and Zidane.

Zizou is assistant coach to Ancelotti but he’s also someone who is now guiding the President, talking to the players, influencing who signs for them (Varane, Isco) and attempting to return grandeur to the nine time European Champions.

Zidane can, in theory, begin to sculpt the kind of Real Madrid Ronaldo always wanted.

However at United, Sir Alex Ferguson can still, from his new role, do the same for Ronaldo.

The fact that he is still involved, not fully retired, is a bonus to the Reds as far as Ronaldo is concerned.

Their kit sponsors, Nike, want Ronaldo back and are willing to financially influence that.

Their shirt sponsors, Chevrolet, view Ronaldo as not only a huge boost to the football operation but a massive marketing magnet all over the planet – but most particularly in the US.

Florentino would be lynched for selling CR7

If Real Madrid can be convinced to sell before the end of this market, I’ll be amazed. The fans now adore him, he’s the club’s best player by a zillion miles and he’s someone around whom a charge for la Decima, the tenth European Cup, can be mounted.

Florentino would be lynched for selling. But can the deal be constructed and put in place for next summer: Yes.

Would United be the leading candidate to sign him if he left for free in 2015: Yes.

Hundreds of millions of pounds are involved in this, share prices are involved in this, Presidential ego is involved. Predict with a voice of total certainty  how it will play out at your own risk.

But there is a race to convince Ronaldo about how he spends most of the next five years of his playing life. And United are right in it.

  • Betting: Can Manchester United win the Premier League title race without Ronaldo?

Graham Hunter is the author of the award-winning book, Barca: The Making of the Greatest Team in the World. He is a regular contributor to the Paddy Power Blog on football and an all-round good guy. Follow him on Twitter here

Dive into Hunter’s archives on the Paddy Power Blog here


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Singaporean allegedly involved in match-fixing to go on trial in July

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As a teacher who organised inter-school sports in Lebanon, Fifa-accredited referee Ali Sabbagh earned US$850 (S$1,060) a month.

A mysterious man, known to him only as “James”, turned his head with this offer: Fix football matches for a year, and you will make more money than you would as an AFC (Asian Football Confederation) referee for 10 years.

Sabbagh, 34, first met “James” at a cafe in Beirut last June through Hadi El Kassar, a fellow Lebanese referee.

During this meeting, “James” claimed to run a company which organised international friendly matches.

He said he was prepared to pay officials for their flights, accommodation and expenses at the same rate as Fifa.

They exchanged e-mail addresses and mobile numbers, through which Sabbagh deduced that the man he met was Singaporean.

He was right. “James” was identified in court papers as an alias allegedly used by Eric Ding Si Yang, 31, a Singapore businessman who was also a football tipster with The New Paper from 2006 to last year.

After exchanging several e-mail messages with Ding, Sabbagh realised he was dealing with a match-fixer.

But Ding allegedly reassured him that “he will not be forced to fix any match, and that it would be totally up to him”.

In August last year, Sabbagh finally caved in and agreed to do “jobs” for the Singaporean

He began giving him details of the international matches he was refereeing and the names of the linesmen assisting him.

Ding allegedly made his move in September, asking Sabbagh to “allow at least three goals” for an AFC Cup match between Kuwait SC and Jordan’s Al Wehdat. In return, the referee would get US$5,000. Sabbagh rejected the offer, allegedly earning a rebuke from Ding when the match ended 0-0.

In February this year, Ding allegedly tried his luck again.

This time, Sabbagh informed him that he would be officiating two more AFC Cup matches: the March 6 tie involving Iraq’s Duhok and Yemen’s Al Shab Ibb in Iraq, and the April 3 encounter between Singapore’s Tampines Rovers and India’s East Bengal in Singapore.

A month later, the duo spoke over the phone, where Ding took a keen interest in three AFC Champions League matches that Sabbagh was scheduled to officiate in South Korea, Qatar and Iran.

Ding allegedly said “he expected a lot of goals to be scored” in those matches.

During this conversation, Sabbagh confirmed that two other Lebanese officials – Ali Eid, 33, and Abdallah Taleb, 37 – would be his linesmen for the upcoming match in Singapore.

Ding allegedly wanted to know if all three officials had any requests while in Singapore. Sabbagh replied that he wanted the Singaporean to arrange “free sexual services” for them, in return for fixing an unspecified match in the future.

On April 1, the trio arrived in Singapore to officiate the AFC Cup match.

They stayed at the Amara Hotel, and met Ding the following day at the Subway restaurant next door.

The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the officials’ preference for the girls they were promised – but it did not last very long.

Suspecting that they were being secretly photographed, the group left abruptly.

But later that night, Sabbagh directed Ding to send over “tall Asian girls”.

Shortly after midnight on April 3, three women were taken to their hotel.

Each of the three Lebanese picked a girl and went back to their rooms. Sabbagh and Eid had intercourse with their respective girls, while Taleb received free services “in the form of a massage to his private parts and masturbation”.

Investigations revealed that the sexual services were priced at $500 each.

Sabbagh and his two linesmen – who were also sports teachers in Lebanon – never got to officiate the AFC Cup match that night.

Just hours after their sexual trysts, they were hauled up by officers from the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau.

Replacement officials for the match were found.

The three men were charged in court on April 4, when they asked for forgiveness and apologised for their actions.

The two linesmen were sentenced yesterday, and Sabbagh will know his fate today – a year after his fateful meeting in Beirut with a man called “James”.

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Singapore court jails Lebanon officials for match-fixing

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A Singapore court jailed two Lebanese assistant referees for three months on Monday and postponed passing sentence on a Lebanese referee after all three pleaded guilty to accepting sexual bribes to fix a football match.
Singapore has been the focus of a international probe into football match-fixing, with European anti-crime agency Europol saying in February that hundreds of matches had been fixed in a global betting scam run from the Southeast Asian city-state.
Assistant referees Ali Eid and Abdallah Taleb were jailed for three months, backdated to April 4 when they were detained by police.
Referee Ali Sabbagh will be sentenced on Tuesday.
Prosecutors have asked that Ali Sabbagh be jailed for about six months, saying he was the most culpable, having influenced the two assistants to accept the sexual bribe.
Prosecutors said Ali Sabbagh first made contact with accused Singaporean match fixer Ding Si Yang in June 2012 at a cafe in Beirut. Ding has also been arrested and his case will be heard after the one involving the Lebanese officials.
Ding, who is out on S$150,000 (76,551.95 pounds) bail, has pleaded not guilty to three bribery charges against him – one for each of the Lebanese defendants.
The three Lebanese, all accredited with world football body Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), met Ding on April 2 “to discuss their preference for girls”, the prosecution said.
In the early hours of April 3, they accepted sexual favours from three women hired by Ding in return for influencing a future football match, the prosecutors said.
The three Lebanese had been scheduled to officiate a match between Singapore’s Tampines Rovers and India’s East Bengal on the same day but were hastily replaced hours before kick-off by the Asian Football Federation.
Gary Low, the lawyer defending the three Lebanese, said in mitigation that the “acceptance of the gratification by our clients did not result in any actual football match being fixed”.
The “gratification” was arranged by Ding “with a view to fixing a football match in the future” and his clients were willing to assist Singapore authorities by becoming prosecution witnesses, Low added.
Ali Eid and Abdallah Taleb could be released from prison as early as Monday, as Singapore authorities typically reduce jail sentences by one-third for good behaviour.
The two had faced a possible maximum fine of S$100,000 ($80,900) and a five-year prison term.

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Singaporean charged in Hungary football match-fixing probe

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Hungarian prosecutors said Friday that Dan Tan, a notorious Singaporean alleged match-fixer wanted around the world, was charged in absentia along with 44 others suspected of manipulating football matches.

The 45 including Tan Seet Eng, better known by his pseudonym Dan Tan, were indicted on Thursday after a four-year probe into the alleged manipulation of 32 games across Hungary, Italy and Finland.

The others, all Hungarians, include former players, players still active, referees, club owners, managers and coaches.

Geza Fazekas, spokesman for Hungary’s chief prosecutor’s office, told AFP on Friday that four separate trials would be held due to the large number of people and matches involved.

“The main trial will involve the organisers and ringleaders, those who were liaisons with the Asian syndicate,” he said.

“The (36,000-page) report has been filed with the Budapest court now, so we estimate trials should begin within months, probably no later than September.”

European police body Europol said in February that hundreds of games worldwide had been targeted by match-fixers linked to crime syndicates in Singapore.

European and international arrest warrants have been issued by Hungary’s prosecutors for the elusive Dan Tan, but he remains at large.

The suspects face sentences ranging from two to 16 years in jail if convicted.

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The other three trials will deal with cases where players in Hungary acted independently of the Asian syndicate, or where a large number of players from the same club were implicated, for example the REAC club in Budapest, 14 of whose players or former players have been charged.

Describing the syndicate’s methods, a statement Thursday from Imre Keresztes, Hungary’s chief prosecutor, said the goal of the match-fixing ring was to select matches worldwide in which there was a “realistic chance” of manipulating the result via bribing referees or players, in particular defenders.

Large quantities of low-level bets, usually around 100 euros, would then be made in betting shops around the world.

The 32 games under suspicion include Hungarian league and cup matches, domestic and international youth matches which took place in Hungary, three top league games in Finland, and one in Italy.

Two international friendly matches between clubs are also being investigated.

Michel Platini, the president of European football’s governing body UEFA, on Friday said match-fixing and betting was “the main problem” facing football.

“We are not dealing with petty criminals looking to make ends meet,” said Platini at the UEFA congress in London.

“It seems that we are in some cases dealing with mafia-type organisations that use some games, and therefore our sport, to launder dirty money.

“One game rigged is one match too many as it strikes at the soul of our sport, the very essence of the game.”

Platini also called for the creation of a Europe-wide organisation to police sport.

Graham Hunter exclusive: Here’s why Gotze’s absence doesn’t mean Dortmund are done for

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Graham Hunter byline

European football expert Graham Hunter has three bets out of left field for the neutral in the all-German Champions League Final on Saturday night at Wembley.

If you’d blindfolded David, tied one arm behind his back and replaced the stone in his sling with cotton wool you’d STILL have a bigger crowd of backers on him to win his one-on-one with Goliath than those favouring  Borussia Dortmund on Saturday night.

Even though we saw Manchester United beat Bayern Munich without Paul Scholes and Roy Keane in 1999, Barcelona beat United in 2009 without Eric Abidal, Rafa Marquez and Dani Alves,  Chelsea beat Bayern without John Terry, Branislav  Ivanovic, Ramires and Raul Meireles – the absence of Mario Gotze seems to have been taken as the end of Dortmund’s hopes.

Lukasz Piszczek needs a hip operation post final because he’s in persistent pain. And if Mats Hummels starts then the spotlight will be trained right on him because of the ankle problem which he suffered in defeat against Hoffenheim last weekend.

SOCCER: One-nation European finals

The theory is that Gotze is so outstanding, such an important gateway for Dortmund’s high energy, vertical playing philosophy – that his absence is disastrous.

Bayern are football’s Terminators.

In summary they’ve scored a million goals this season, teams are petrified to score against them in case they get a knuckle sandwich, everyone’s in perfect form, each of their players is quicker, taller, stronger than their rivals. As they’d say in Goodfellas: ‘Forget about it’.

And all joking aside, Jupp Heynckes’ side are tremendous to watch and a real swine (or Schweini) to play against.

Having dominated Dortmund domestically this season, Supercup, German Cup, Bundesliga, it really would be a massive setback for Bayern not to complete the set with the Champions League trophy which their butter-fingers let slip 12 months ago against Chelsea.

And if you want to put your sterling, your Euros or even the odd Deutschmark from down the back of the sofa on Bayern the evidence keeps on mounting to say you’re spot on.

Dortmund’s key player, Robert Lewandowski, is off to Bayern once the final is over so who knows how he’ll handle the pressure of leading the line against his new employers?

Ripped out fingernails

Bayern romped to Wembley against Juventus and Barcelona on an 11-0 aggregate scoreline while Dortmund ripped out all their fingernails while clinging on for wins against Malaga and Real Madrid.

An open and shut case – right?

Possibly so.  However it’s a fact that in the last 10 matches between the sides, in all competitions, Dortmund have won five and drawn two – not a bad record.

Equally, it’s just a year since Jurgen Klopp’s side won the German Cup final 5-2 against a Bayern XI which, barring the injuries to Holger Badstuber and Toni Kroos, could feasibly start on Saturday night.

Whether or not you fancy Bayern to ultimately do the logical thing and win there may be one or two factors worth taking into account.

  • In seven of those last 10 matches between the sides Dortmund have scored the first goal.
  • Of the three previous European Cup finals between teams from the same country familiarity hasn’t bred contempt – but penalty shoot-outs instead

AC Milan beat Juve on spot-kicks in 2003, Manchester United did the same to Chelsea in 2008 and if you consider that of the four matches between Bayern and Dortmund this season there have been two draws and two single-goal wins for the Bundesliga champions then perhaps extra time and penalties aren’t wildly fanciful.

Then there is the theme which the bashful, inarticulate, wallflower Dortmund coach Jurgen Klopp himself introduced.

Champions League

GERMAN MENACE: Lewandowski, Klopp, Muller and Bond baddie Blofeld

Ahead of the final he said:

Bayern want the Bundesliga to be a one- team league. It’s like James Bond but they aren’t Bond, they are the other guy. They want to dominate Europe and Germany for a decade.

Klopp also admits that when he heard that Gotze had been bought out of his contract by Bayern Munich it devastated him for a night – enough to make him miss his friend starring in a movie Premier and the red carpet, Rolls Royce evening which was in store for Herr and Frau Klopp by association.

In one fell swoop with his Bond-villain quotes he managed to make this a grudge match and to invoke ‘underdog’ sympathy for his side.

This isn’t a tie which generally produces a flood of red cards, although Rafinha was sent off during the recent Bundesliga draw, and there have only been two red cards in European Cup finals – Arsenal ‘keeper Jens Lehmann and Didier Drogba in 2006 and 2008 respectively.

Good luck to Italian ref Nicola Rizzoli who has issued only four red cards in 39 Uefa club matches. Perhaps, just perhaps, he’ll augment that total.

Now, given that it’s the last vital club game of my working season I’m going to indulge on that sixth-sense ‘instinct’ call. Only two players, Samel Eto’o and Raul Gonzalez, have scored in two Champions League finals and Thomas Muller, is a punt of mine to score in two consecutively.

It’s hard to envisage Dortmund having a chance unless Lewandowski provides them with a goal but Nuri Sahin is a massive favourite of Klopp’s and it’s feasible that a weight of responsibility will fall on his shoulders now that Gotze is out. A surprise goal or man of the match?

It could easily be hostile, it’ll be passionate, noisy and intense. Get your bets on, get the beers in sit back and enjoy a cracker.

Graham’s best bets for the Champions League final:

  • Muller time:  Thomas to score for Bayern in consecutive finals
  • Early bath: What are the odds on a red card being shown?
  • Too close to call: See our extra-time and penalties market
  • Sahin surprise: What price the man of the match award

MBS


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Singapore’s Duric in match-fixing warning

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Singapore legend Aleksandar Duric has warned match-fixing poses a major threat to the development of Asian football as he prepares to wrap up one of the sport’s most extraordinary and prolific careers.

The 42-year-old striker, a former Olympic kayaker who travelled from war-torn Bosnia to score nearly 400 goals in Singapore’s S-League, said Asia’s rise was being compromised by corruption.

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“We saw so many cases in China and South Korea – it’s getting out of hand. Something needs to be done drastically because sooner or later you’re going to have a big problem,” he told AFP in an interview.

“If you lose the trust of the fans… that’s the biggest problem. And once it comes into the fans’ heads, we’re going to lose all the fans – and what’s the point of playing in empty stadiums?”