Ghana has been exposed as agreeing to take part in international football matches organised by match fixers.
An undercover investigation found that the President of Ghana’s Football Association agreed for the team to play in international matches that others were prepared to rig.
The team is currently competing in the World Cup finals in Brazil, and on Saturday pulled off a 2-2 draw against Germany. A team launched a six-month investigation into match-fixing after receiving information that some football associations rigging scores in international games.
Christopher Forsythe, a registered Fifa agent, along with Obed Nketiah, a senior figure in the Ghanaian FA, boasted that they could employ corrupt officials who would rig matches played by Ghana.
Forsythe and Nketiah agreed on a contract which would see the team play in the rigged matches, in return for payment. The contract stated that it would cost $170,000 for each match organised by the fixers involving the Ghanaian team, and would allow a bogus investment firm to appoint match officials, in breach of Fifa rules.
Forsythe said that match fixing was “everywhere” in football and that he could even arrange rigged matches between Ghana and British teams.
He also listed a number of African and European countries, adding “we can look for match officials who will sing to our tune”.
Forsythe and Nketiah introduced the undercover team to Kwesi Nyantakyi, the president of the Ghana FA, at a five-star hotel in Miami earlier this month shortly before his team played South Korea in Miami before heading to Brazil.
During the meeting in Florida, the president agreed to a contract that would cost the investment company $170,000 and that they could appoint the match officials for each game.
During the meeting, the president suggested that the fictional investment company put on two matches after the World Cup to prove that they were able to organise games.
Officers from the National Crime Agency, Britain’s FBI, have asked Fifa to issue an alert over attempts to rig the game. Insiders say match-fixing is widespread. It is happening at every level and in many countries.
Match-fixing syndicates have infiltrated all levels of football and sport from national, regional and onto international.
Over the last month, Sepp Blatter, the president of Fifa, has faced calls to stand down after it emerged the former Qatari executive committee member had made millions of dollars in payments to Fifa officials.
Jack Warner, one of the people that participated in the decision to award Qatar the 2022 World Cup, was paid $1.2 million shortly after the vote.
