According to local sources, one former national player and the team captain and vice-captain of Nepal’s national football team among others have been arrested and charged with match-fixing in global and national games. These players go through their agents and throw away matches and manipulate results with certain goal margins as per their agreements with the bookies, the senior police officer said divulging their modus operandi.
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Speaking to eKantipur, Sarbendra Khanal, SSP of Nepal Police said that the players are suspected of involvement in worldwide fixing. If the charges against the five footballers are proved, they will be sentenced to jail and fined, besides getting disqualified from playing any match in the future, the police officer said.
“It appears that these players have been concerned in a deep community of brokers and fixers in different nations”.
ANFA officials could not be immediately reached for comment.
Long serving president and former national captain Thapa is fighting a court battle against four vice presidents he fired from the organisation earlier this year. While charges are still to be finalized, Khanal said prosecutors would seek a severe punishment because it was a crime against the state.
Thapa, a former Asian Football Confederation vice president, voluntarily stepped down and refrained from all soccer activities for 120 days late past year while FIFA probed accusations of misconduct from his colleagues at ANFA.
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The Federation Internationale de Football Association Ethics Committee is but to make a judgment on the case.
