Six men have been arrested in a match-fixing scandal that suggests overseas betting syndicates are operating illegally in English football’s highest echelons.
Reports claimed that Blackburn striker DJ Campbell, who has played in the Premier League with Birmingham, Blackpool and QPR, is one of the men arrested, although as late as midnight on Sunday his club were unable to confirm if that is indeed the case, even after contacting his agent.
The National Crime Agency (NCA) confirmed it was investigating spot-fixing involving Football League players being paid to get yellow and red cards.
It followed a report in the Sun on Sunday newspaper that former Portsmouth player Sam Sodje allegedly told an undercover reporter that he could arrange for footballers in the Sky Bet Championship to get themselves a yellow card in return for tens of thousands of pounds.
In the report the 34-year-old is alleged to have claimed he could rig Barclays Premier League games and even said he was preparing to fix matches at next year’s World Cup in Brazil.
An NCA statement said: ‘An active investigation is now under way and we are working closely with the FA and the Gambling Commission. People are in custody and are being questioned. We cannot comment further.’
The FA said: ‘We have been made aware of a number of arrests in relation to an NCA investigation. We are working closely with the authorities in relation to these allegations. We will make no further comment.’
Sodje’s astonishing claims will cause huge alarm across football and has led to a second probe by the NCA into allegations of match fixing, the first one involving low-paid players from non-league football.
Last week two players from Conference South side Whitehawk FC were charged as part of the ongoing investigation.
Sodje’s brother Akpo, who was on Tranmere’s bench for Saturday’s FA Cup tie at Peterborough, was also named by the newspaper.
Sodje, born in London and a former Nigeria international, is now out of contract but at one stage was a Barclays Premier League player with Reading. He claimed to be part of a spot-fixing operation that enables overseas gambling syndicates to bet illegally on red and yellow cards in matches.
As well as Sodje’s younger brother, Akpo, the revelations pointed to the involvement of another Sodje brother, Stephen, and Oldham’s Cristian Montano. It is reported that other players linked to the alleged operation have not been named for legal reasons.
Perhaps most extraordinary is the claim, made by Sam Sodje, that he deliberately got himself sent off earlier this year while playing for Portsmouth in exchange for £70,000.
It amounted to a bizarre incident and one that will shock Portsmouth fans, given the fact he was suspended for six matches as a result of an unprovoked attack on Oldham’s Jose Baxter on February 23. For no apparent reason Sodje suddenly punched him twice in the groin area in the 50th minute.
In The Sun On Sunday it is claimed Sodje showed an undercover investigator footage of the incident on a mobile phone before boasting that he was paid ‘70k’ for the dismissal.
‘Do you know how much I got fined? I got fined ten grand and I missed six games,’ he said. ‘I had to do it because the referee wasn’t booking me. Come on, who does that? Why would you do it on the pitch? I was tackling, tackling, it wasn’t working and I went f*** that, I’m off.’
He confirmed it was an unprovoked attack on Baxter. ‘The guy didn’t say nothing — I just started punching him. Everyone happy,’ he said.
Farmery said: ‘If these allegations are true then we are extremely shocked and saddened, as match fixing of any type goes to the heart of the integrity of the game.
‘The player in question no longer plays for the club and we have not been contacted by the authorities, but of course we would co-operate fully.’
Montano, it is claimed, tried but failed to receive a yellow card during Oldham’s encounter at Wolverhampton Wanderes on October 22. The Colombian was apparently summoned to a hotel in Manchester by Sam Sodje to explain himself.
The Sodje brothers, meanwhile, are quoted outlining how much they want to spot-fix matches in the English professional game. Sam Sodje claimed he could guarantee events ‘100 per cent’ in return for cash. He said a former Premier League player had agreed to get himself booked in exchange for ‘thirty bags, three zero’, meaning £30,000. ‘The booking one is easy,’ he is then quoted as saying before adding that he controlled a network of players.
‘The easiest one is a booking,’ he says. ‘You just push someone, swear at the referee, kick the ball away. A yellow card is a standard thing. No one would even be suspicious.’
Later in the reported conversation he then asks the undercover investigators to pay him in the form of a new Range Rover car.
On Sunday Tranmere acknowledged in a statement that they were aware of the allegations, adding only that they would not be making any comment in the light of a criminal investigation.
The Professional Footballers’ Association also released a statement saying: “These allegations, if proven, unfortunately demonstrate the real issue football faces in terms of corruption and highlights the necessity of the work carried out by the PFA and other stakeholders in the game in educating players of these risks.
“We take the issue of integrity very seriously and will continue in our efforts to eradicate this evil from our game.’
Danny Mills, a member of FA chairman Greg Dyke’s review panel, pointed to the fact that spot fixing in football is not new. He spoke of how footballers were once able to bet on the timing of a first throw-in, only to then kick the ball into the stands almost from the kick-off.
But this kind of spot fixing is far more serious when Sam Sodje’s dismissal had such a major impact, not only on that game but on Portsmouth’s next six games given the ban he then served.
These revelations threaten the integrity of English football, and highlight the possibility that such illegal activities are also present in the Premier League. After all, we have already seen this in Test match cricket and it would seem the World Cup in Brazil in June is also being targeted.
This week the two Whitehawk FC players, Hakeem Adelakun and Michael Boateng, will appear at Birmingham Magistrates’ Court. But the threat of illegal betting is not simply restricted to their level of the game. It would seem to have spread right to the top.
Read more: Daily Mail
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