LaLiga reports alleged match-fixing attempt to police

LaLiga has filed a grievance with Spanish authorities after former participant Aday Benitez mentioned he was provided a bribe to lose a second division sport whereas on the books of Girona.

Benitez, 35, retired from the sport in the summertime of 2021 after spending seven seasons at Girona.

The former Spanish winger said: “In football, there were briefcases, hidden payments… They have personally offered me that, and I have not accepted them.

“They provided me shut to €50,000 to lose a sport. It was absurd to settle for as a result of that yr we had been promoted to the First Division. We had one league sport left. I used to be not going to stain the season for a league sport.”

Girona gained direct promotion to LaLiga for the first time in the club’s 87-year history in the 2016-17 campaign after finishing second in the standings behind Levante.

Benitez also described the modus operandi of the alleged match-fixing scheme.

“They contact a participant to join with trusted individuals in a locker room,” he said. “You solely have to catch three, however extra have to participate. As lengthy as you purchase a goalkeeper, a central defender and a striker, you virtually have it finished. But you possibly can’t purchase simply three gamers, clearly.”

LaLiga said in a statement it had reported Benitez’s revelations to Spain’s nationwide police centre for Integrity in Sports and Gambling (CENPIDA) and added: “LaLiga Integrity and Security space has as one in every of its aims the prevention, detection and reporting of any conduct that infringes ‘honest play’ and will adulterate the competitors.

“The predetermination of results is a crime, as well as proving the sole intention of fixing the proposal.”

The fixture in query is Levante’s 8-0 first spherical win over Huracan Melilla, which was performed on Dec. 2, 2021.

LaLiga has labored lately with law enforcement and expertise specialists to make sure that matches are free from corruption in addition to giving academic workshops to gamers to stop match-fixing.

While the variety of instances of match-fixing in skilled soccer has considerably fallen, final month, LaLiga confirmed an investigation is underway relating to a potential case of match-fixing throughout final season’s Copa del Rey.