Evert Montero, president of Fecoljuegos, the association that brings together most of the country's online betting platforms, says that match-fixing occurs mainly in the second division because the players experience more financial hardships there. In B there are hundreds of footballers who receive a minimum salary, or salaries that do not exceed two million pesos per month (usd 500.oo)
"There are boys who arrive with very great economic deficiencies and are subject to being permeated by these people who want to cheat the sport," says the president of Fecoljuegos.
The platforms have designed specialized programs to detect risky sporting events and block those bets.
From the experience they have in analyzing these cases in other countries, they know that it is an international business. “There are international mafias that have a structure to defraud bookmakers. They are the ones that reach the players or the athlete or the person in competition.
How the mafias operate
Few have dared to denounce it publicly, as Alejandro Guerrero did two months ago, who at that time was the coach of Boca Juniors de Cali, a second division team.
“A communication has been sent to the managers by Dimayor and by the Federation, stating that there are situations that have arisen since 2018. What kinds of situations have been occurring? That the matches have been rigged," said the coach.
According to various sources consulted, the fixing happens above all in the Colombian soccer promotion tournament. Coach Guerrero gave the statement on May 13, after his team lost against Deportes Quindío in the last game of the round-robin phase of the championship. After his statements, Guerrero was sanctioned by Dimayor. The entity that governs professional soccer said that his good name was affected. Finally, his punishment was lifted, and Guerrero is today without a team to lead.
Bettors look for all kinds of arrangements with the players: from losing a match to generating a corner kick in a certain minute of the game. In the betting platforms they move large sums for this type of events in the matches.
“I hang up and after three minutes I come back and receive the same call from this number. I keep refusing and they tell me that they will raise the amount to 90 million pesos. I do not accept. I keep receiving insults from this subject, ”says the athlete who requested that his identity be reserved.
Bettors usually contact players from private numbers or through social networks. “When we got to the dining room and we sat down, I was the one who raised my hand, I took the floor and asked how many teammates to raise their hands, and two more teammates raised their hands and told me that for a number of corner kicks and throw-ins offered them a certain amount of money”.
Image of one of the controversial plays of the match.
According to the complaint, the player refused to accept the offer. However, he assured that he noticed suspicious situations during the match that, finally, his team lost; He also pointed out that the match in question, that is, Barranquilla FC vs. Bogotá FC, was a match in which the referee's bad attitude towards them was observed from the first minute. “He did not allow any Bogotá FC player to speak to him and at minute 15 of the game they already had four players booked, and at minute 20, one was sent off, ending the first half 2-0 against. At the beginning of the second half, approximately at minute 20, another player was sent off, even so, and with only 9 players, they managed to tie the game 2-2. At minute 87, the referee whistles a penalty against Bogotá FC. He indicates that in the video it is clearly seen that there was not and in this way it was 3 – 2 in favor of Barranquilla FC, and that is how the game ended”.
