| In this file photo on Nov. 26, 2014, convicted Singaporean match-fixer Wilson Raj Perumal is in Budapest, Hungary, presenting the local edition of his book “Kelong Kings” which details his exploits and shows “to what extent football and football betting are corrupt”. Perumal was said to have supplied referees to friendly matches involving South Africa’s national team in 2010, which are the subject of match-fixing investigations by FIFA. Photo: AP |
LAUSANNE – Three more former South African Football Association (SAFA) officials have been banned from the sport in connection with international friendlies played by the national side in 2010, soccer’s governing body FIFA said on Monday.
Leslie Sedibe, a former chief executive of the South African Football Association (SAFA), was banned for five years and fined 20,000 Swiss francs (S$27,850) by FIFA’s Ethics Committee. Steve Goddard and Adeel Carelse, both former heads of the SAFA’s refereeing department, were each banned for two years.
The cases were linked to that of former SAFA executive member and head of referees Lindile Kika, who was banned for six years by FIFA last October.
FIFA said that Sedibe, Goddard and Carelse had all infringed ethics rules concerning general rules of conduct, loyalty and disclosure, cooperation and reporting.
The investigations were conducted by FIFA’s Ethics Committee along with the security division, which is responsible for fighting match-fixing.
A previous FIFA investigation had looked into warm-up matches that South Africa played against Thailand, Bulgaria, Colombia and Guatemala in May 2010 ahead of the World Cup, which South Africa was hosting.
In 2012, FIFA handed SAFA a 500-page report that documented the activities of convicted Singapore-based match-fixer Wilson Raj Perumal and his company, Football 4U.
Chris Eaton, FIFA’s head of security at the time, said that Perumal’s company had provided the match officials for the four games under investigation.
South Africa usually invites match officials from neighbouring countries to handle home friendlies, but agreed to Perumal’s offer to fly in officials from Kenya, Niger and Togo for the four matches.
South Africa were handed two disputed penalties in their 2-1 victory over Colombia in Johannesburg on May 27, 2010. One of the kicks was ordered to be retaken twice after the initial efforts were both saved. Colombia’s goal also came from a penalty.
Four days later, South Africa were awarded another two spot kicks in their 5-0 win over Guatemala in Polokwane.
Match fixing is often organised by betting syndicates who make money by correctly gambling on the result of the match they have manipulated. REUTERS
