Dilip Kuner
NINE people have been jailed in Spain for colluding to fix the result of football matches.
It is the first time anyone has been sentenced to prison in the country for match fixing.
Those involved are former football executives, players, and businessmen.
OSASUNA: Club was at centre of match fixing.
The case hinged on two vital matches at the end of the 2013-14 season in which Osasuna’s executives paid two Real Betis players to influence the results.
This morning, a court in Navarra issued a sentence which considered it proven that former Osasuna executives paid Antonio Amaya and Xabier Torres, who played for Betis at the time, to encourage them to beat Real Valladolid in the penultimate match of the season.
They were then to lose against Osasuna in the last game.
Betis had already been relegated so had nothing to play for, but Valladolid and Osasuna were both battling to fight the drop and stay in the lucrative first division.
Former Osasuna executive Angel Vizcay was jailed for eight years and eight months, while Amaya and Torres received sentences of one year each. The sentence can be appealed.
