Former Manchester City and Fulham midfielder Dickson Etuhu found not guilty of match-fixing in Sweden

The 36-year-old was accused of trying to bribe a former teammate to fix a Swedish league match in 2017

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Former Premier League footballer Dickson Etuhu was found not guilty by a Swedish court on Thursday of attempting to fix the result of a 2017 league match between IFK Gothenburg and his former club, Stockholm giants AIK.

Etuhu was charged with trying to bribe his former AIK teammate, goalkeeper Kenny Stamatopoulos, to fix the result of the game.

The match, which was due to be played on May 18, 2017, was subsequently postponed when Stamatopoulos informed his club about the alleged approach from Etuhu and another man, according to the pre-trial documents.

Denying the charge, Etuhu insisted that his former teammate must have misunderstood the conversation, telling Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter: “I respect everyone's opinion, but the facts remain the same – it never happened ... It's unbelievable that an ordinary conversation with a friend can lead to something like this.”

Etuhu, 36, represented Nigeria at the 2010 World Cup and spent 14 years as a midfielder in England for Manchester City, Preston North End, Norwich, Sunderland, Fulham and Blackburn Rovers before moving to play in Sweden. On retirement, he embarked on a new career as a football agent.

The Stockholm district court, which heard testimony from the Etuhu and Stamatopoulos last week, concluded that there was not enough evidence to support a conviction.

“To discuss a crime only in general terms is typically not punishable,” the court said in its judgment.

Had he been found guilty of gross bribery, Etuhu could have faced a maximum sentence of six years in prison under Swedish law.