Fifa bans six officials for life over match-fixing in friendlies

Bolivia coach Gustavo Quinteros said all three penalties were invented during the game against Latvia (AFP/GETTY IMAGES)

Six match officials have been banned for life over match-fixing in two friendly internationals last February that produced a total of seven penalties, Fifa said yesterday.

The officials, three from Bosnia and three from Hungary, were involved in the Latvia-Bolivia and Bulgaria-Estonia matches played in Antalya, Turkey, on 9 February. Latvia won 2-1 and the other game ended 2-2, all the goals coming from penalties including one in the first match which was taken twice.

Fifa named the banned match officials as Sinisa Zrnic, Kenan Bajramovic and Rizah Ridalovic of Bosnia and Kolos Lengyel, Janos Csak and Krisztian Selmeczi of Hungary. "The officials were found guilty of breaching article 62 paragraph 2 (passive corruption) and article 69 paragraph 1 (unlawfully influencing match results) of the Fifa disciplinary code," said football's governing body in a statement.

The Hungarian football federation had already banned their country's trio for their handling of the Bulgaria-Estonia game.

Hungarian referees' chief Laszlo Wagner said at the time: "I'm shocked because we didn't receive a letter to allow these referees to officiate at this game."

The four teams involved complained at the time about the refereeing, with the Bolivia coach Gustavo Quinteros saying that all three penalties were "invented" and describing the refereeing as a disgrace.

Following the matches, Fifa tightened the rules over friendlies, which until then had no control from international football's governing body.

Fifa said it would have to be informed who was refereeing each match and that it would intervene if it saw anything suspicious.

Both Fifa and European football's governing body, Uefa, are alarmed about match-fixing which they say is organised by illegal gambling rings.

Turkey, Greece and Italy have all been hit by match-fixing scandals in the past few weeks and Fifa has said it will investigate Nigeria's 4-1 friendly win over Argentina in June which featured two controversial penalties, one for each side.