Czech football engulfed in match-fixing scandal ahead of Republic of Ireland tie

Damian Spellman, PA

Czech football has been engulfed in a match-fixing scandal just days before the national team’s World Cup play-off clash with the Republic of Ireland.

The Czech football association, the Fotbalova Asociace Ceske Republiky (FACR), revealed on Tuesday that it had initiated 47 disciplinary proceedings against players, club officials and referees largely on suspicion of bribery and match-fixing following a series of dawn raids.

In a statement on the association’s official website, Martin Holub, chairman of the governing body’s ethics commission, said: “The FACR ethics commission has initiated 47 disciplinary proceedings, primarily on suspicion of committing disciplinary offences of bribery and match-fixing.

“The suspects are member clubs, officials, referees and players.

“Most players were also provisionally banned from competitive activity. All documents were published on the FACR official board in accordance with the FACR disciplinary code.

“The FACR ethics commission will further address the situation at its meeting today, at which further action will be planned.

“The initiation of these disciplinary proceedings on the day the police action was launched was only possible thanks to the excellent internal work of Integrity Officer Kamil Javurek and the above-standard co-operation with the Police of the Czech Republic, to whom we hereby thank.”

Reports have suggested the police operation was concentrated on the Moravia region in the east of the country and that Europol, Interpol and UEFA’s anti-match-fixing unit were involved.

A spokesperson for UEFA said: “As per our long-standing practice, UEFA does not comment on investigations or the existence of potential investigations into alleged match-fixing.

“This approach is intended to preserve the integrity of any ongoing or future investigative processes.

“UEFA only communicates on specific cases or matches once disciplinary proceedings have been initiated and/or decisions have been made.

“At this stage, we have no further comments or information to provide on the matter.”

The Czech Republic face Ireland at the Fortuna Arena in Prague on Thursday evening with the winners set to battle it out against either Denmark or North Macedonia next week for a place at this summer’s World Cup finals in the United States, Canada and Mexico.