It would appear that Brazilian football faces a multitude of violations of the rules. Under this premise, the Public Ministry of Goiás, has initiated and quickly advanced an operation to bring the perpetrators of such infringements to justice and subsequent punishment. Only a short while ago, 16 players were accused of collaborating with a crime syndicate to fix matches in Série A and Série B. It was the first ripple of an earthquake that caused the best online bookmakers to change their prices to compensate. The effects of the new incident are yet to be seen.
2 more players implicated
Fernando Cesconetto is the prosecutor in charge of Operation Maximum Penalty. While it is not official yet, somehow videos of the interviews have made it to Uol’s (University of London) portal. In these videos, the left back of Juventud Moraes (Onitlasi Júnior de Moraes Rodrigues), and the central defender Kevin Lomónaco of Red Bull Bragantino, appear to be admitting that they were paid to fix three matches.
Moraes confessed to receiving 25,000 Reais for a yellow card in the matches against Palmeiras and Goiás. As reason for his action, he said that he needed the money. Lomónaco also confessed that he agreed to receive the amount of 70,000 Reais for a yellow card at the match against América-MG. However, he received only R$30,000, instead. When he was asked why did he do it, he claimed that he did not know that it was a crime.
Who and what is Operation Maximum Penalty investigating
A total of eight matches of the 2022 season has been placed under the scope of the investigation as suspects for fixing. These are:
- Palmeiras vs Juventude
- Ceará vs Cuiabá
- Botafogo vs Santos
- Juventude vs Fortaleza
- Red Bull Bragantino vs América-MG
- Palmeiras vs Cuiabá
- Goiás vs Juventude
- Santos vs Avaí
So far, the following players have already been charged:
- Vitor Mendes (Fluminense)
- Nino Paraíba (América-MG)
- Kevin Lomonaco (Red Bull Bragantino)
- Nikolas Farias (Novo Hamburgo)
- Nathan (Grêmio)
- Bryan García (Athletico-PR)
- Richard (Cruzeiro)
- Dadá Belmonte (América-MG)
- Moraes Jr. (Juventude)
- Jarro Pedroso (Inter de Santa Maria)
- Pedrinho (Athletico-PR)
No charges have been filed yet; however, the following players are still under investigation:
- Eduardo Bauermann (Santos)
- Victor Ramos (Chapecoense)
- Paulo Miranda (Náutico)
- Matheus Gomes (Sergipe)
- Gabriel Tota (Ypiranga-RS)
- Igor Cariús (Sport)
- Fernando Neto (São Bernardo)
The name of Palmeiras player, Gabriel Menino has also been implicated in the investigation. However, in his case, he filed a criminal complaint at the Ministry of Justice against all persons responsible for the allegations, providing proof that the specific incident that the allegations site, was not the result of match fixing but a practiced move at the training camps of his team.
The political repercussions
The findings of the investigation have accelerated the approval and implementation of a new General Sports Law (PL 1,825/2022) that had already been submitted to the Brazilian Senate, in an attempt to minimize violations like match fixing. However, since there were also infringements of the betting regulations, Senator Jorge Kajuru (PSB-GO) has written and pushed for the approval and put to effect of a new legislation (PL 845/2023) for a better and more efficient regulation of the betting industry in the country.
A tainted championship is always a source for concern for the fans. However, it could be argued that through their devotion to their teams, such infractions may not be too much of a trouble, if it leads to the success of the team that they support. However, the more impartial punters, that just need to invest their money and make a profit, need to know that when they register for an account at the best betting platform, they do not run the risk of their wagers being influenced by match fixing of this magnitude. And they hope, like the rest of us, that the new laws, will indeed take care of the problem.
