A Brazilian player was banned from all football activity by a sports court in the country on Monday, in a first conviction linked to a match-fixing scandal in Brazil. Former midfielder of Vila Nova (2nd division), Marcos Vinicius Alves Barreira known as “Romario”, aged 21, was also fined 25,000 reals (nearly 5,000 euros), according to the judgment published on the site of the Superior Court of Sports Justice (STJD).
His lawyer Me Odair Meneses indicated that he intended to appeal. Another player who played at Vila Nova, Gabriel Domingos, 22, was sentenced by the same court to a 720-day suspension and a fine of around 3,000 euros. Both players were previously dismissed by their clubs.
These are the first two convictions in the match-fixing case that has shaken Brazil, a country where football is king and where online betting is booming. This scandal concerns to date about fifteen meetings of first and second divisions. The Goias state prosecutor’s office, which has opened an investigation, suspects a criminal network of “juicy profits” on betting sites.
At least 25 people, including fifteen players, are suspected. And all this is perhaps only the “tip of the iceberg”, warned a prosecutor in charge of the investigation. This started, in November 2022, from a report from the president of the Vila Nova de Goias club, Hugo Jorge Bravo, on suspicion of three match-fixing.
This manager had notably claimed that one of his players, Romario, was involved in a pact with bettors to cause a penalty on the last day of the championship, in exchange for 30,000 dollars. He had received an advance of 2,000 dollars but had not been able to honor the pact, not having been selected for the meeting. “It all came out because the shot didn’t work,” Bravo added.
The other player sentenced on Monday, Gabriel Domingos, was accused of also being involved in this corruption pact. Online betting is allowed in Brazil, but its regulations are still unclear. To date, 19 of the 20 Premier League clubs are sponsored by sports betting sites.
