DUBAI: FIFA has broken up a scheme to rig a football game in the United Arab Emirates which it believes is part of a wider match-fixing scandal that stretches from Finland to the Far East. Tipped off on alleged plans to manipulate a March 26 friendly between Jordan and Kuwait, FIFA sent investigators to the stadium in Sharjah, the emirate just north of Dubai. FIFA says the game bore all the hallmarks of suspicious matches in Turkey and elsewhere — local referees were replaced by foreigners and the match ended in a 1-1 draw with both goals coming from penalties. According to FIFA's early warning system of betting monitoring, online gambling sites were abuzz with action from the match. That prompted FIFA investigators to reveal their presence to organizers at halftime, short-circuiting the match-fixing scheme. “There were the same indicators that show a consistent methodology of arranging and conducting the match,” Chris Eaton, FIFA's head of security, told the Associated Press. “There were no media agreements, no streaming of the match, no spectators and mostly cash transactions. The referees came at the last minute.” The UAE investigation comes as FIFA struggles to contain several corruption scandals that are threatening to undermine the integrity of the sport and has until now been the focus of a heated election campaign between FIFA President Sepp Blatter and challenger Mohamed Bin Hammam of Qatar. FIFA is also investigating claims of corruption related to the 2018 and 2022 World Cups bids, as well as alleged match fixing in various parts of the world.
