On 28 January, the FBF announced Real Santa Cruz’s Ricardo Suárez, Oscar Ribera, Luis Ruono, Samuel Pozo and Brian López, as well as club officials, would be required to submit a report to the federation by 10 February. If they fail to do so, they face sanctions for failing to cooperate.
INVESTIGARÁN POR POSIBLES AMAÑOS DE PARTIDOS
— Tigo Sports Bolivia (@TigoSportsBol) January 31, 2025
The investigation centres on three matches in December 2024. Real Santa Cruz lost all three by an aggregate score of 10-3. The club would go on to be relegated from the top-flight of the Bolivian football pyramid at the end of the season, which concluded on 22 December last year.
The three games were flagged by the South American Football Confederation (Conmebol) after match-fixing monitors found irregularities in the betting markets.
The ethics committee will “where appropriate, sanction those conducts that may harm the reputation and integrity of Bolivian football” it warned.
Another Bolivian football match-fixing scandal
The fresh allegations cast another cloud over football in Bolivia, with match-fixing a real concern in the country.
In 2023, the FBF halted the ongoing top-flight football season, as well as the Copa de la División Profesional cup competition, over suspicions of manipulation and corruption.
The suspension would eventually be lifted, but only after the FBF reached an agreement with Conmebol to intensify monitoring efforts, a move that now appears to have uncovered more wrongdoing.
Are financial issues creating a perfect storm for Bolivian match-fixing?
In November 2024 the International Federation of Professional Footballers (FIFPRO) published an article claiming 13 of the 16 top-flight football clubs in Bolivia were in arrears regarding the payment of players’ wages, including periods of up to 18 months. This report came just weeks before the alleged offences involving Real Santa Cruz players took place.
And it’s not an issue limited to Bolivia. In neighbouring Brazil, which has faced its own match-fixing scandals of late, Sportradar’s integrity partnership manager Felippe Marchetti has cited the poor financial health of football clubs as creating ideal conditions for match-fixing and corruption.
“Economic instability at clubs and leagues and its resultant impact on the salaries and well-being of players, coaches, officials and even club executives can make them more susceptible to match-fixing approaches by organised crime groups and other opportunists as a means of making up for lost revenue,” Marchetti told iGB in August 2024.
Football not the only target
Furthermore, football is just one sport where Bolivia appears particularly prone to match-fixing. Tennis has also faced significant scandals resulting in hefty bans for perpetrators.
In May 2023, the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) banned Bolivian chair umpire Heriberto Morales Churata for six years over a number of corruption charges, including manipulating scores for betting purposes.
Just over two months later, Bolivian tennis official Percy Flores received a 12-year ban from the ITIA for 31 breaches of the Tennis Anti-Corruption Programme (TACP) between November 2021 and October 2022.
Original article: https://igamingbusiness.com/sustainable-gambling/sports-integrity/bolivian-football-match-fixing/
