Portugese football slams Federbet’s “absolutely repulsive” fixing claims

Portugal’s leading football body has lashed out at sports corruption watchdogs Federbet over claims that Primeira Liga games are subject to match-fixing.

On Tuesday, Federbet delivered a report to the European Parliament, in which it claimed around 50 matches across Europe’s various leagues in the 2014-15 season were suspected of fixing. Among these suspect matches was last month’s Benfica 4-0 victory over Penafiel, which Federbet claimed attracted a larger than usual volume of bets.

Multiple matches in Portugal’s second division were also flagged, including last August’s notorious ‘phantom’ match that purported to involve Portugal’s Freamunde and a Spanish second division team, yet turned out to be a pickup game between friends. At least four major bookmakers were reportedly conned into accepting wagers on the bogus match.

Federbet said Portugal’s struggling economy has resulted in “players going unpaid for months and societies on the verge of bankruptcy.” This has created a fertile “breeding ground for the match-fixing virus.”