Football Dispatch

Tuesday Football
04 November 2008
by Jerrad Peters

Levski official admits corruption in Bulgarian football

The chairman of one of Eastern Europe’s most famous clubs has admitted that match-fixing is rampant in Bulgaria. Levski Sofia’s Todor Barkov made the remarks, Tuesday, in conversation with Bulgarian television network bTV.

“It’s no secret that FIFA has initiated investigations in several countries,” he stated, “and this will not skip Bulgaria.”

Regarding allegations that Levski has participated in match-fixing, he commented, “I’ve always tried to keep Levski away from such things. But it’s obvious there’s match manipulation and illegal betting in Bulgaria.”

At issue is the integrity of the Bulgarian Football Union’s referees. While FIFA had long suspected that match-fixing was a problem in the Balkan nation, a red flag went up when referee commissioner Borislav Alexandrov resigned in September.

The following month, BFU chief Boris Mihalov met FIFA president Sepp Blatter for discussions in Zurich. At the conclusion of their conference, both sounded optimistic that corruption would be rooted out swiftly.

“We’ve experienced some problems with corruption and illegal betting,” Mihalov told the official FIFA website, “and I want to deal with these matters to clean up Bulgarian football.”

Top clubs target Ibisevic

Vedad Ibisevic has taken an awkward journey to the top of the European scoring charts. Eight years ago, his family left Bosnia-Herzegovina for the United States, a move that set the 18-year-old back several years in his development as a footballer. Nevertheless, after establishing himself with the NCAA’s SLU Billikens (also the alma mater of Brian McBride), he was selected to Bosnia-Herzegovina’s Under-21 squad.

While on duty for the national team, he caught the eye of a Paris Saint-Germain scout and signed for the Ligue-1 side in 2004. After brief stops in Dijon and Alemannia Aachen, he was scooped up by Hoffenheim in July, 2007. Sixteen months later, he’s the top sniper on the continent.

Personnel representing Bayern Munich and Manchester United were on hand to watch Ibisevic and Hoffenheim deconstruct Hamburg nine days ago. Both clubs are keen to sign the 24-year-old, although Hoffenheim benefactor Dietmar Hopp will be sure to put up a fight for his prized asset.

“I have not invested so much in my club to allow others to come along and start picking off our best players,” he fumed. “All the players are under contract and part of an existing project. We don’t need the money, and we won’t be selling anyone.”

Hopp co-founded SAP AG—the largest software company in Europe—along with a quartet of former IBM employees. He is currently mulling a plan to spend 40M-euros of his own money to construct a 30,000-seat stadium for the club.

Two buyers contending for Newcastle takeover

Mike Ashley has been mysteriously inconspicuous since putting Newcastle United up for sale in mid-September. The formerly boisterous owner opted to sell the club after a falling-out with demigod manager Kevin Keegan left his reputation in tatters.

Initially, reports suggested that as many as six individuals or investment groups were seriously considering a takeover. But as Keith Harris claimed on Tuesday, several of those consortiums—including one from Nigeria and another from Africa—were fabricated by the media.

Harris, the chairman of investment bank Seymour Pierce, has been designated the task of finding a buyer for the Tyneside club. Given the current market fluctuations and the even more unstable conditions at St. James’ Park, it hasn’t been an easy job. To date, only two buyers have made serious inquiring. And although he refused to divulge their identities, Harris revealed that Ashley’s asking-price had fallen from a high of 450M-pounds to a paltry 250-million.

Have a question about football? Email your query to jerradpeters@gmail.com.

Jerrad Peters covers football for the Winnipeg Free Press, Soccer Three-Sixty magazine, ESPN Soccernet, and Soccer365.com. His work has also appeared in The Globe and Mail, TheMirror.co.uk, Canadian-soccer.com, Footy247.co.uk, Foot2ball.com, and Squadinfo.com.