A judicial inquiry into allegations of corruption and match-fixing in Zimbabwean soccer says 93 players and officials implicated in the Asiagate scandal will be banned from the game.
Retired Judge Ahmed Ebrahim says the probe team has recommended to the Zimbabwe Football Association that 13 players and officials be banned for life and others face six-month to 10-year bans.
In full, the committee is recommending a life ban for 13 players, 10-year bans for seven other players, 37 five-year bans and 25 two-year bans. The names of the 13 players set for life bans have not been revealed by the Zifa board.
The players were accused of accepting money from a betting syndicate to throw matches in Asia in 2009. Former ZIFA chief executive Henrietta Rushwaya was named as the mastermind.
Rushwaya appeared in court in February on corruption and fraud charges that are still pending. Football’s world governing body, Fifa, has indicated that it will uphold any bans issued by Zifa and turn them into global bans.
“Today will go down as a sad, depressing day in the annals of history of the game in Zimbabwe,” said Justice Ahmed Ebrahim, a former Supreme Court judge who was chairman of the independent committee.
Justice Ebrahim added that what the investigation has revealed “may well only be the proverbial tip of the iceberg”. Zifa president Cuthbert Dube also believes that there is more work to be done.
“We will not step down until we clean up football. There is match-fixing in the premier league and in division one, and we are not pleased with the standard of our referees,” he said.
An initial Zifa investigation into national team tours of Asia between 2007 and 2009 found that players were paid to lose matches. Zimbabwe lost to Jordan 2-0, to Thailand 3-0 and to Syria 6-0 in Malaysia in tours arranged by Rushwaya.
