SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
Brazil’s top football competition, the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A, could grind to a halt after calls were made to stop it by the country’s highest tribune of sports integrity.
Jorge Kajuru, President of the Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry on Match and Sports Betting (CPI), issued a statement recommending that the football championship be put on hold in connection with reports alleging wide scale match-fixing that came to light earlier this month.
Allegations
The allegations in question came from American businessman and owner of Botafogo football club, John Textor, who revealed to the CPI last week that he had evidence of suspicious activity relating to a number of top flight games.
At the Monday hearing, which took five hours, Textor said: “It is a very important day for me and I hope it is also a very important day for Brazilian football. It is a sport that we all love. Fixing happens as much as doping. Nobody wants to believe it until we realise that this can happen anywhere.”
Tensions spark up
The Brazilian National Association of Soccer Referees (ANAF) had also come out in support of the 2024 Serie A season being placed on pause in order for the alleged match-fixing to be thoroughly investigated, threatening a referee walkout.
Reported by SBC Notícias Brasil, a statement signed by President of ANAF Salmo Valentim read: “(The) BRASILEIRÃO 2024 MUST STOP (…) I have received numerous calls from dissatisfied referees and there is already a large group that wishes, in protest of what is happening, to interrupt the Brazilian championship in the next rounds.”
Valentim also criticised Ednaldo Rodrigues – the former chief of the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) – for allowing football in the country to reach a state of turmoil.
However, the ANAF President also condemned Textor’s allegations, saying that they are not only ‘baseless’ due to the lack of evidence provided in the hearing, but that they also put the image and the independence of refereeing in jeopardy.
“[The arbitration] is being exposed in the Federal Senate by an inconsequential leader who, even without evidence, insists on saying that Brazil has referees who manipulate the results,” Valentim said.
“This not only puts the VAR under suspicion, but can also cause serious damage to the image of the arbitration,” he concluded.
On a political level, Textor’s interaction with the CPI was met with some support from a number of Senators.
Senator Veneziano Vital do Rêgo praised the “collaborative disposition” Botofogo’s owner had shown, while Senator Carlos Portinho remarked that he is concerned about the “dependency that Brazilian football has developed on betting houses”.
CPI’s President Kajuru appeared to have agreed with ANAF’s calls to halt the championship, with his latest statement saying: “I think ANAF is absolutely right. The investigation must continue with the full support of the Federal Police and the Attorney General’s Office to show the truth of this scandal, which is the largest in the history of Brazilian football.”
Further complications
The scandal could negatively impact betting in Brazil. A lot of eyes are currently watching the market as it steadily moves towards a regulated launch after President Lula da Silva penned a decree to legalise sports betting last December.
Textor’s allegations, if found to be true, could significantly hurt the market’s expansion, with investors thinking twice before packing for a trip to Rio.
In contrast, the CBF recently published its compliance guidelines that allow it to exercise better control over the integrity of football events. Their efficiency will most likely be put to the test in light of Textor’s CPI hearing.
