Kamal Ghorui
Panaji: The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has asked for a detailed report from the All India Football Federation (AIFF) on match-fixing allegations in Goa that led to chargesheet being filed against 14 players and officials, including a police constable.Last month, the Goa Football Association’s integrity officer and retired deputy superintendent of police Sandesh Chodankar charge-sheeted 14 players and said “there is ample evidence of match-fixing”. The players are on the brink of facing suspensions and even life bans for their alleged roles in match-fixing in Goa Professional League, the top tier of football in Goa.Media reports of match-fixing in Goan football has been assessed by AFC, the governing body of Asian football.AFC has requested AIFF to provide a report on findings of the investigation, details of the process followed, details of any ongoing and/or completed administrative and/or disciplinary proceedings before AIFF and/or its judicial bodies in connection with the investigation.If the AIFF has not been involved in the investigation, AFC requested the federation to provide them with “the findings of the GFA investigation and an update on the current status of the matter, including any proceedings initiated or contemplated at GFA level.”GFA is understood to have already forwarded its investigation report to AIFF.Nine of the 14 suspected players are from Chapora Yuvak Sangh after club president Pravin Dabholkar filed a complaint that Akash Kudnekar, Krishnanath Shirodkar, Sachidanand Satelkar, Bhaskar Jalmi, Aman Govekar, Chaitan Dabholkar, Rohan Pednekar, Vinayak Rane and Akash Sanadi were involved in “match-fixing for monetary benefits”.According to the complaint, all of them had met a suspected match fixer— only identified as ‘masked man’ Sandy, arriving in a tinted car — a day before their Goa GPL clash against Clube de Salgaocar, where they were offered money to lose the game by three goals.For the past six years, international betting monitors like Sportradar and Genius Sports have told GFA about suspicious betting patterns in Goa Professional League which are indicative of match-fixing.
