It is widely known that football competitions are some of the most scandalous sports competitions in the world. Partially because the culture around the sports itself is quite specific, and partially due to the corruption present in this sport. After all, match-fixing scandals are common in sports which are as popular as football is. Besides, football is one of the most popular sports in the betting industry and bookies around the world offer special bonuses for football bettors.
There have been some seriously unbelievable match-fixing scandals in the history of football. Check out some of the most scandalous ones!
Marseille Scandal
When Marseille won the UEFA Champions League, everybody thought that they had a bright future. After the fourth League 1 title, a scandal that will forever be remembered in football history occurred. Allegedly, Bernard Tapie, the owner dabbled in some match-fixing. He offered money to Valenciennes to lose against Les Phoceens, for a greater cause as he believed. In other words, Tapie wanted to avoid any potential pre-European Cup finals injuries. But, it all ricocheted when he was caught.
West Germany (vs) Austria Scandal
Even if this situation never escalated as a great scandal, and no one ended up in prison, the deed behind it was quite evident. In 1982 during the World Cup in Spain, in a match where West Germany and Austria played against each other something unusual happened. Once Germany scored their first goal, both teams basically stopped playing. Both teams would benefit this kind of score, and thus all the “effort” became transparent. Both Germany and Austria would manage to surpass Algeria with this kind of score.
Totenero Scandal
Italian football is famous around the world, and some events even made it infamous. European football industry was shaken when Milan and Lazio were removed from Serie A. Namely, the match-fixing involved some greengrocers from Rome and Lazio players. The restaurant was popular for fixing matches as, apparently, some of the Lazio players used to come there. The name of the scandal derived from the Italian word for illegal gambling or “Totenero: In the end, a couple of dozen people, including players and officials ended up in prison.
Italian Cremonese and Paganese Scandal
Another scandal in Italian football, but know the participants are Cremonese and Paganese. During a match between the two, many noticed strange behavior in the Cremonese team. They all seemed slow and their playing was unbelievably bad. It turns out that the Paganese goalkeeper Marco Paolini drugged the Cremonese players by putting some tranquilizers in their drinks. Once the Italian FA dug a little deeper and discovered that the goalkeeper is responsible for the wrongdoing, they decided to ban him for five years.
Bruce Grobbelaar Scandal
We all know that football is one of the most popular sports in the UK. Surprisingly, they were rarely a part of some greater match-fixing scandal. However, Bruce Grobbelaar from Liverpool managed to change that. The player was accused and charged with a crime, and ended up in court with two more athletes. The magic trio never confessed, and the case was closed shortly after as the jury failed to come to a verdict. Despite the scandal, the players were allowed to play without any real consequences.