The Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) described, in a statement released to the press this Wednesday (19), external interference in football matches as a “global epidemic”. The demonstration took place after the Public Prosecutor’s Office of Goiás (MP-GO) launched yesterday (18), an operation to disrupt a criminal association specializing in manipulation of the results of Serie A football matches of the Brazilian Championship to favor sports betting.
“External interference in results or in game situations is a global epidemic that, in order to be solved, needs to punish, in an exemplary and urgent way, those responsible for this harmful practice”, says the CBF note, which also stated that “it supports all and any legal action that brings transparency and fairness to the championships it organizes and to all Brazilian sport”.
According to the maximum entity of Brazilian football, even with the suspicions of manipulation and result in some matches of the 2022 edition of Série A do Brasileiro, there is no possibility of canceling competition games.
In addition, the CBF reported that it has invested in game monitoring through a company that “is known worldwide for its expertise in this type of work”.
MP-GO investigation
In the MP-GO operation carried out on Tuesday, arrest and search and seizure warrants were served in 16 municipalities in six states (Goiás, São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Pernambuco, Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina).
“The investigation indicates that the manipulations were diverse and aimed, for example, at ensuring the punishment of a certain player for yellow card, red card, commission of maximum penalty, in addition to ensuring the number of corners during the match and even the score of defeat of a given team at halftime. There are indications that the conduct previously requested from the players sought to enable the investigated to achieve large profits in bets placed on sports houses websites, also using accounts registered in the name of third parties to increase income”, informed the MP-GO in a note. .
According to the investigations carried out in Operation Penalty Maximum II, “there are suspicions that the criminal group has actually acted in at least five Serie A games of the 2022 Brazilian Football Championship, as well as in five state championship matches”.
In a press conference held last Tuesday, promoter Fernando Cesconetto, from MP-GO, informed that “the investigation started from five matches in the final stretch of the 2022 Brasileirão”: Santos x Avai (played on November 5, and in which there are the suspicion that there is a scheme for an athlete from Santos to receive a yellow card), Bragantino x América-MG (played on November 5th and in which there is a suspicion of a scheme for a Bragantino player to receive a yellow card), Goiás vs Juventude (held on November 5th and in which two athletes from Juventude would be shown yellow), Cuiabá x Palmeiras (played on November 6th and in which a player from Cuiabá should receive yellow), Santos x Botafogo (played on November 10th and in which a Santos player should take red).
During the course of the investigation, it was also found that there may also be a scheme involving the match between Palmeiras and Juventude (played on September 10 and in which a Juventude player should be booked). According to the MP-GO promoter, each athlete co-opted by the gang for the Brazilian Series A matches scheme would receive between R$ 50,000 and R$ 60,000 to force a punishment.
At the press conference, Fernando Cesconetto also informed that “20 arrest warrants were issued [um em Goiás, três no Rio Grande do Sul, dois em Santa Catarina, um no Rio de Janeiro, dois no Pernambuco e 11 no estado de São Paulo] in addition to three preventive arrests in the state of São Paulo. Among those investigated are players and intermediaries, not ruling out that these people are also football players.”
Operation Maximum Penalty
Operation Maximum Penalty II is an offshoot of Operation Maximum Penalty, launched in February 2023 and which resulted in the filing of a complaint, already received by the Judiciary, with the imputation of the crimes of integrating a criminal organization and corruption in sports.
