FIFA to investigate officials over match-fixing

FIFA have begun disciplinary proceedings against six officials allegedly involved in fixing the outcome of two international friendlies in FebruaryFootball’s governing body said officials involved in last month’s matches which saw Bolivia play Latvia and Estonia take on Bulgaria in Antalya, Turkey, were now facing charges over the outcomes of the games.The games were organised by Footy Sport International, a Thailand-based company, and saw Latvia beat Bolivia 2-1, while Estonia and Bulgaria played out a 2-2 draw.The two games were played in front of only 100 fans and all seven goals came via penalties.Also causing confusion was the choice of officials for the Bulgaria-Estonia match, with reports from the Bulgarian Football Union (BFU) and Estonian Football Association citing the referee as Hungary’s Krisztian Selmeczi.But Hungarian referees’ boss Laszlo Wagner said the man who actually refereed the game was another Hungarian official, Kolos Lengyel.FIFA said in a statement that match officials had been charged in relation to the games, but did not identify those under suspicion.”FIFA has opened disciplinary proceedings against six match officials in relation to the international A friendly matches Bolivia-Latvia and Estonia-Bulgaria played in Antalya (Turkey) on February 9, 2011,” the statement read.”The proceedings were opened following an evaluation of all documentation and information received by FIFA, in relation to a possible match-fixing situation in these matches. The FIFA disciplinary committee will be in charge to deal with the matter.”