From the football pitches to the courthouse. Spanish police announced on Friday that they had arrested six people for their alleged involvement in a match-fixing affair. A Spanish Cup match which was played in December 2021.
The six arrested are believed to have received around 30,000 euros from bets on a match that the Levante club, then in the first division, won 8-0 against the fifth division team CD Huracan Melilla, clarified the police in a statement. Originally the final score did not arouse suspicion due to the difference in levels of the two opponents.
These arrests took place the day after the announcement by the regional court of Melilla, an autonomous Spanish city on the north coast of Africa, that six people had been heard in connection with this case. Among these six people was a former CD Huracan player.
Police said they opened an investigation after receiving a report from La Liga, which manages Spanish professional football, as well as several betting centres.
In a press release published Thursday, the Huracan Melilla club indicated that it was cooperating with the football authorities and the justice system, and assured that it was doing “everything possible to fight against fraud”. “If an active member of the club is involved (…) disciplinary and legal measures will be taken immediately”, is it specified in the press release.
For its part, the Levante club, currently 4th in the Spanish D2, assured of its innocence in a press release. “No player on our team, nor any member of our entity, has received any communication of any kind regarding the facts of the complaint. As stated in La Liga’s statement, Levante are completely independent of the reported facts and, therefore, have been excluded from the investigation. »
One more case that affects and pollutes Spanish football already marked by the alleged corruption scandal of referees with FC Barcelona.
