FIFA has leaned on the Zimbabwe Football Association to impose severe penalties on Zimbabwe national soccer team players and coaching staff involved in match fixing, it was revealed on Wednesday.
A ZIFA probe into match fixing has revealed that stars such as Method Mwanjali, Nyasha Mushekwi, Cuthbert Malajila and Washington Arubi were paid US$£1,500 each by Asian betting syndicates to lose matches on agreed scorelines.
And now, FIFA has directed ZIFA to throw the book at the players, coaching staff and officials involved in the corruption.
ZIFA had promised the players who cooperated with a probe team led by the association’s vice president Ndumiso Gumede that NO ACTION would be taken against them.
But Gumede, whose report is published this week, has now revealed that FIFA has ordered that they apply the rules – raising the prospect that some of the palyers may never play for Zimbabwe again.
Gumede said he would be recommending to the ZIFA board that sanctions should be “categorised”.
He added: “It is still my personal view that there were so many pawns in these games and we should not apply a blanket punishment.
"We should try and categorise those who were involved into the BIGGEST BENEFICIARIES, the COLLABORATORS, the set of players who were HEAVILY INVOLVED and always EAGER TO THROW GAMES and those players who were just called up for national duty and were NEW TO THE SCENE.
"So I believe the sanctions should vary accordingly but that is my own opinion, the decision will be made by the ZIFA board and the assembly whose prerogative it is to decide who should do what.”
Gumede’s report, which will be handed over to the Sports and Recreation Commission this week, looked in detail into Zimbabwe’s tour of Thailand and Malaysia in late December last year.
On the trip, which the report said was arranged by suspended ZIFA CEO Henrietta Rushwaya and the ZIFA programmes officer Jonathan Musavengana without following proper procedures, Zimbabwe lost 3-0 to Thailand, beat the Malaysian champions Selangor 3-0 before suffering a 6-0 drubbing by Syria.
In interviews with coaching staff and players, Gumede’s committee heard how a Malaysian betting syndicate threatened players for losing 3-0 to Thailand when they had been told prior to the match that they were to draw 0-0 or lose 1-0.
In the final match against Syria, played on December 31, players were paid US$500 inducements before the match and directed to lose 6-0 which they duly did.
Caretaker coach Joey Antipas said he refused to pick the team for the match but Musavengana sat on the bench and issued instructions when to concede goals. During the course of the game, he was reportedly receiving phone calls from the syndicate which later paid out US$1,500 to each player for the good outcome.
Rushwaya and Musavengana were also handsomely paid, the report said.
Gumede said his probe team had also investigated trips made prior to the December 29, 2010, trip including tours of Malaysia, Jordan, Yemen and Oman.
He said: “In the end we looked at such trips like Monomotapa's visit to Malaysia, the CECAFA tournament where former coach Norman Mapeza admitted to have been approached by some betting agents.
"We cannot categorically say betting syndicates started with the Merdeka Cup in 2007, but our investigations seem to link that tournament to have inspired some people because those who travelled there returned with huge sums of money, some in excess of US$10 000 and some bought expensive cars."
A Malaysian national named Raja Raj has been fingered as the pointman of the betting scam.