This is not shaping to be a good thing for the Ghana national team at this year's World Cup. The Telegraph said that the Ghana Football Association (GFA) has already called for police to probe on allegations of match-fixing involcving its local association president after the the paper and Channel 4's Dispatches programme uncovered evidence that the official had vouched on behalf of the team to play in international matches that others were prepared to fix.
Ghana is currently competing in the World Cup finals, managing to came out strong unlike strong contenders England and Spain, for example. On Saturday, the team managed a 2-2 draw against the Germans in what was dubbed to be one of the most entertaining matches of this year's World Cup so far.
The investigation, which run over the course of a six-month period, started when information was received about football associations working with criminal gangs who are looking to fix scores in international games, no doubt for the latter's financial benefits. The Telegraph's reporters and a former FIFA investigator, posing as an investment company looking to "sponsor" games, met registered FIFA agent Christopher Forsythe and senior official in the Ghanaian FA Obed Nketiah. The two had boasted that they can hire corrupt officials who could fix the games played by Ghana. The deal would have the investment firm paying $170,000 (£100,000) for each match organized by the fixers involving the Ghanaian team, with a setup of a fake investment firm to appoint match officials, which is a clear breach of FIFA rules.
Forsythe added, "You [the company] will always have to come to us and say how you want it to go...the result. That's why we will get the officials that we have greased their palms, so they will do it. If we bring in our own officials to do the match...You're making your money."
Nketiah chimed in and stated, "You have to give them [the referees] something... they are going to do a lot of work for you, so you have to give them something."
In a statement released last night, the Ghanaian FA said it has reported the matter to FIFA and Confederation of African Football and added, "We wish to assure the public that we will not tolerate such misrepresentations and we will seek strong sanctions against such individuals if such claims are found to be true."
