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Two jailed for match-fixing in Swedish football

A Swedish appeals court has jailed two football players and handed suspended sentences to four others for their involvement in a match-fixing scandal.

Two jailed for match-fixing in Swedish football
Photo: Björn Lindgren/TT

The case, which involved three football matches played by Kristianstads FF in Swedish football’s third tier (Division 1) during the 2013-14 season, originally saw all six defendants acquitted by the Kristianstad district court.

The Skåne and Blekinge court of appeal on Thursday judged however that all six men were guilty of involvement in match-fixing. Three players who received a bribe, and one who gave a bribe received suspended sentences. Two others, who also gave bribes, were sentenced to imprisonment for one year and 14 months respectively.

One of the players admitted his involvement in the scandal and testified against the others. His lawyer told public broadcaster SVT that he was happy with the sentence.

“It is a big relief for him that it’s over now. He got a relatively light sentence, and the judgement said his crime was not aggravated. We accept the verdict,” lawyer Esbjörn Svensson said.

Three of the other players have denied the crime, and are not satisfied with the outcome of the trial.

“It’s leaning towards an appeal on our part. We can conclude that the appeals court made exactly the opposite assessment of the evidence to the district court,” defence lawyer Anders Tolke told SVT.

RACISM

VIDEO: Spain’s La Liga reviews video of boy racially abusing Vinicius

Spain's La Liga on Monday said it was reviewing a video of a child making racist insults towards Real Madrid forward Vinicius Junior during the 2-2 draw with Valencia at the weekend.

VIDEO: Spain's La Liga reviews video of boy racially abusing Vinicius

“We’re in the process of studying and analysing the facts from a legal standpoint to see what we can and should do,” La Liga sources said.

In a video published by a journalist for ESPN Brasil, and picked up by Spanish media, a boy sitting in a woman’s lap can be heard calling Vinicius a “monkey”.

The Brazilian scored twice for Madrid as his team recovered from two goals down at Mestalla on Saturday.

Vinicius raised his fist in a “Black Power” salute after the first of his two goals at a ground where he was racially abused last season. Valencia subsequently banned three people from the stadium for life.

The 23-year-old has become a symbol of the fight against discrimination in Spanish football after suffering racist abuse on many occasions, and he was jeered repeatedly by home supporters on Saturday.

Jude Bellingham was sent off after the final whistle against Valencia for protesting after the referee blew the final whistle right before the England midfielder headed home what he thought was the winning goal.

READ ALSO: Football star Vinicius highlights racist behaviour from Spanish fans

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