Weekend Football

27 March 2009

by Jerrad Peters

Allegations of Macedonian match-fixing

UEFA has levied a match-fixing charge against FK Pobeda. The Macedonian club, its president and one player are under investigation for allegedly corrupting the result of a 2004 Champions' League encounter with Armenian side FC Pyunik.

"FK Probeda, its president and one player have been charged for being in breach of the principles of integrity and sportsmanship by manipulating the outcome of a UEFA match to gain an undue advantage for themselves and for a third party," read a statement issued by UEFA on Thursday.

Visiting Pyunik were 3-1 winners in the first leg of the first qualifying round after opening an early 3-0 lead on the hosts. The return fixture in Yerevan ended in a 1-1 draw, dumping Pobeda out of the competition.

"The charge is based on reports received from betting patters and the declarations of several witnesses," continued the UEFA statement. "The Control and Disciplinary Body will deal with he case on 17 April."

Pobeda finished the 2008-09 Macedonian season in eigth-place, narrowly avoiding relegation to the second division. The club's president, Alexandar Zabrcanec, has rejected the match-fixing allegations as illegitimate, stating, "We have never been involved in such an affair. You can win or lose, but that's sport and there was nothing controversial in our defeat to Pyunik."

Marseille handed stadium ban

Olympique Marseille will play one of their four remaining home matches behind closed doors after being penalized by the Ligue de Football Professionnel. Currently embroiled in a six-team tussle for the title, Marseille will host Grenoble, Toulouse, Lyon and Rennes before the Ligue 1 season comes to an end on May 30.

The penalty was assigned after traveling Marseille flans lit flares during a November 15 match at Lorient. Marseille supporters are notorious for their use of flares, and the punishment is largely seen as the result of cumulative offenses.

The LFP has not determined when Marseille will serve the penalty, although the Mediterranean side will hope to welcome a capacity Stade Vellodrome for the visits of Toulouse and Lyon. Marseille are currently second in the table, a single point back of Lyon and just three points ahead of fourth-place Toulouse. Bordeaux is in third spot on 53 points.

Confirming that his side will launch an appeal, Marseille president Pape Diouf stated, "This punishment is out of proportion. It doesn't seem well-founded to us and still less applicable." He continued, "There is more a feeling of surprise than anything else. I can't believe this sanction will become effective."

Schalke sack Rutten

Scalke 04 dismissed head coach Fred Rutten on Thursday, nearly a year after sacking his predecessor, Mirko Slomka. Assistant coaches Mike Buskens andYouri Mulder will take over the club on an interim basis. The two filled a similar role at the end of last season.

Since finishing runners-up to Stuttgart in 2007, Schalke chairman Josef Schnusenberg believes the team has regressed and underachieved. They wound up in third spot last season and are currently eighth in the Bundesliga table. When Schnusenberg fired manager Andreas Mueller in early March, it was considered a mere matter of time before Rutten followed his boss out the door.

In an official statement, the club cited Rutten's failure to help Schalke attain its targets as the reason behind his departure. Schnusenberg described his final conversation with Rutten as "frank, and at times emotional."

Permanent replacements for Rutten and Mueller won't be hired until the summer, but former Bayern Munich and Germany goalkeeper Oliver Kahn has emerged as the frontrunner for the manager's job in Gelsenkirchen.

Goodwill football at El Madrigal

Villarreal will be renewing subscriptions at no charge to unemployed season ticket holders. Club president Fernando Roig is hopeful that the decision will be seen as a gesture of goodwill to the city and the team's supporters, especially given the current economic turbulence.

"The idea is to think of the club's wider social base and those who have been unlucky to lose their jobs so they can continue to watch football in the Madrigal," he told reporters on Thursday.

Villarreal are in the midst of a battle for the final Champions' League berth in La Liga. With 48 points from 28 matches, they are just five points ahead of fifth-place Atletico Madrid, sixth-seeded Valencia and seventh-place Deportivo La Coruna.

With European football all but guaranteed at El Madrigal, supporters worst hit by the effects of the economic storm will be rewarded for their loyalty to the club by being provided free admission to one of Spain's most competitive sides.

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