SPORTS BETTING
Brazil – Player banned for life in match fixing scandal
By James - 30 May 2023
A sports tribunal in Brazil has handed down a lifetime ban to midfielder Marcus Vinícius Alves. The sentence was handed down by the First Disciplinary Commission of the Superior Court of Sports Justice (STJD), which also sentenced the former player of Vila Nova, to pay a fine of R$25,000 (about US$5,000).
In the same trial, the court sentenced Gabriel Domingos, also a former Vila Nova player, to a 720-day suspension and to pay a fine of R$15,000 (around US$3,000).
The magistrates concluded that the two footballers accepted bribes in exchange for forcing yellow or red cards, committing penalties or harming their teams to favour criminal gangs involved in match fixing.
Alves was found guilty of violating article 242 of the Brazilian Code of Sports Justice, which prohibits football players from “giving or promising any undue advantage to any athlete to influence the outcome of a match or the equivalent.” His partner, on the other hand, was sentenced for violating article 243, which prohibits “deliberately acting in a way that is detrimental to the team he defends.”
While Alves was sentenced for offering bribes to his colleagues, that is, for actively participating in the criminal network, Domingos was sentenced for accepting one of those proposals.
Fraud is now expected to have taken place in at least 13 games played since last year, including eight in the first division league.
The Goiás State Prosecutor’s Office has already filed charges against 16 people, including seven football players, who are suspected of collecting bribes of up to $20,000 in exchange for manipulating in game results.
However, documents leaked by the press indicate that there could be as many as fifty players who have been cited in the investigations.
