Three Brazilian football clubs competing in the regional Paulista Serie A3 were penalised for match fixing last month following collaboration between various sports bodies and authority figures.
Barretos EC, Paulista FC and Olimpia FC each face a four month ban along with a fine, which will affect seven players and one coach from across all three clubs.
The investigation was carried out by the Paulista Football Federation (FPF), cooperating closely with Sportradar Integrity Services, Sao Paulo Civil Police and state prosecutors.
In an official statement, FPF Interim Magistrate, Margarete Barreto, said: “In recent years, the FPF has adopted several prevention measures against match-fixing. This includes educating athletes and coaches about the threat of match-fixing to the integrity of the game, and applying bet monitoring to our matches, through our specialist partners at Sportradar Integrity Services.
“However, when match-fixing cases are verified, we need to take decisive action as we did here, and we welcome the Court of Sports Justice (TJD-SP) upholding the sanctions we imposed on the three clubs.
“We must avoid match-fixing affecting the fair play of our game at all costs, and we hope these decisive actions send a message to others that these activities will not be tolerated in our competitions.
We congratulate the TJD-SP team and its president Dr. Olim, and our partners at Sportradar, for the collaboration which led to this result”.
Barretos EC received the heaviest penalties of the three clubs, being served with a four month ban and a fine of $9,400.
In addition the team’s goalkeeper Pedro Ernesto Alves is banned for six months and must pay a $420 fine, whilst goalkeeper coach Maiken Dilso Kehrwald faces a fine of $1,800 and a 24-match ban.
Barretos players Roberth Melonio da Silva, Edson Rocha, Deriky William Santos da Silva and Fabrício Pereira de Oliveira were given a $940 fine and a one year ban.
Olimpia FC and Paulista FC both received a $4,700 fine, and a defender from each club – Olimpia’s Fernando Andrade and Paulista’s Samuel Sampaio – were banned from playing for one year and have been fined $470.
Following the penalisations, Sportradar Integrity Services Business Development Manager, Juan Mendez, stated: “Sportradar is committed to supporting our partners at each step of the investigative process. Our monitoring system (FDS) once again proved to be critical to detect the irregularities recorded in the betting markets, which allowed us to inform the Paulista Football Federation in real time, and also support the police investigation, which included providing expert testimony during preliminary auditions
“We are delighted to see that our FDS reports have once again been considered reliable evidence to help support proceedings in a major sporting court.
“The judgement represents another milestone for Sportradar Integrity Services, as we continue to support our global partners in the fight against match-fixing.”
Sportradar monitors and analyses over 400,000 matches across the world and in 60 different sports, and is an official partner of NBA, NFL, NHL, MLB, NASCAR, FIFA and UEFA.
Its Integrity Services division aims to safeguard sports and advocates for an integrity driven environment.
Mariana Chamelette, Prosecutor of the Sports Court of Football, added: ““These cases demonstrate the zero tolerance approach to match-fixing within Paulista football, which is becoming an increasing issue across Brazilian football.
“It shows that even more important than investigating and punishing those involved, is to prevent the match manipulations in the first place. Match-fixing prevention must be addressed at all clubs, as they have a moral obligation to educate and supervise their athletes.
“Sport is passionate, because it is unpredictable. Therefore, unpredictability is essential to the very existence of sport. Thus it is expected that managers, coaches, referees, athletes – in short, all those involved in sports practice – understand the seriousness of the issue faced, and place the preservation of sports integrity as a priority.”
