Former Ghana international and tournament official Anthony Baffoe does not believe the Africa Cup of Nations has been targeted by match-fixers. Benin coach Reinhard Fabisch claimed on Thursday that he was asked to manipulate the result of his side's opening Group B match against Mali earlier this week.
The German revealed he was approached by an unknown African man at Benin's team hotel in Sekondi on Saturday, two days prior to the game with Mali, which Benin lost 1-0.
Namibia has also lodged a complaint with CAF claiming that they were approached by a betting syndicate to throw a match.
Namibia, already out of the tournament after defeats to Morocco (5-1) and hosts Ghana (1-0), say they were offered US$30 000 per player to lose their final Group A match against Guinea tomorrow (Monday).
Baffoe, now the director for international relations at the tournament's Local Organising Committee (LOC), says he is disturbed and confused by the claims.
To be honest I've never heard of something like this happening. And myself personally, I've never been approached to do such a thing, but I am surprised.
Baffoe added that match-fixing was something common in Africa, but insisted that the Nations Cup, being staged in his homeland this year, would be an unlikely arena for scandal.
I don't believe that in such a tournament - a major African competition with all professional teams and players- something like this can take place, he claimed.
The level of competition is really high here and you can see from the quality of play so far that players are trying.
If I was a player, why would I want to throw the game? In this year's African Nations Cup, players are looking to impress big clubs so they can perhaps earn a big move, more so the lesser teams.
Source:
Raymond-Arkfm
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment