The Rio de Janeiro Civil Police launched the VAR operation after Sportradar raised suspicions that there had been match fixing in a match between Belford Roxo and Nova Cidade, for the Série B of the Cariocão.
During the match, the Civil Police identified that there had been “a significant number of bets in Asia” for Nova Cidade to win the first half, but suffer a comeback in the second half.
In the end, the Nilóplis team won 3-1 in the first half of the game, but was defeated 5-3 at the end of the duel.
The investigation began after a formal request from the Rio de Janeiro State Football Federation (Ferj), which pointed out suspicious results in the second division of Rio de Janeiro. The VAR operation served 11 search and seizure warrants in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo.
One of the targets of the operation, which began last week, was William Rogatto, the ‘King of Relegation.’ He was arrested by Interpol last Friday (8), in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates.
In his testimony, he confirmed that he was responsible for 42 relegations in Brazilian football during the period in which he worked on manipulating results to benefit bettors.
Note from the Rio de Janeiro State Federation (Ferj):
The Rio de Janeiro State Football Federation has been waging an arduous and relentless battle against match-fixing for some time now.
As a defender of fair play, Ferj, within its scope, has imposed and continues to impose administrative sports sanctions and has always had the policy of sending to the Public Prosecutor's Office, the Sports Justice Courts and the Civil Police - currently through the Consumer Protection Office (Decon) - all reports produced by Sportradar, an international company hired to detect movements that indicate the likelihood of match-fixing in matches in all series of its competitions, as well as sending any other document containing suspicious data.
The Federation reaffirms its commitment to fair football and maintains its firm intention to combat this evil and severely punish those responsible.
To achieve these goals, it relies on the Judiciary, the Public Prosecutor's Office, the Police and the Sports Courts, to whom it has always appealed and from whom it has always had full support.
Source: GMB
