Federal Police to investigate match-fixing scheme in Brazilian football

Brazil's, Justice Minister Flávio Dino. Photo: Marcelo Camargo/Agência Brasil

The Justice Ministry on Wednesday asked the Federal Police to investigate a match-fixing scheme in Brazilian football after prosecutors found that several players were paid to deliberately receive yellow cards.

“Faced with evidence of manipulation of results in sports competitions, with interstate and even international repercussions, I am ordering today that an inquiry be set up by the Federal Police for legally applicable investigations,” Justice Minister Flávio Dino said on Twitter.

Players from teams in Brazil’s first and second divisions are suspected of participating in the scheme. They were allegedly approached by match-fixers and encouraged to intentionally receive yellow or red cards and thus favor bettors. In case of acceptance, players were allegedly paid BRL 50,000 (USD 10,000) per football match. Conceding penalty kicks and other in-game actions were also reportedly negotiated.

On Tuesday, the prosecution office of Goiás and five other states carried out an operation against the match-fixing scheme, arresting three people.

Sports betting in Brazil generates six times more revenue than official lotteries. According to media analytics firm Comscore, more than 36 million Brazilians logged on to online bookmakers during 2022.

Amanda Audi

Amanda Audi is a journalist specializing in politics and human rights. She is the former executive director of Congresso em Foco and worked as a reporter for The Intercept Brasil, Folha de S. Paulo, O Globo, Gazeta do Povo, Poder360, among others. In 2019, she won the Comunique-se Award for best-written media reporter and won the Mulher Imprensa award for web journalism in 2020