World football governing body, FIFA, has announced that they have referred the matter concerning match-fixing allegations made by British newspaper,Telegraph against the Ghana Football Association back to the West African country’s football association.
The announcement was made in a press statement released on Monday by FIFA after it had completed initial investigations.
The announcement says that the Ethics Committee of the GFA must now handle the matter and find a resolution to the issue which first came up in June.
During the 2014 World Cup, the UK-based paper Telegraph newspaper published conversations between GFA boss Kwesi Nyantakyi and some match organisers that stated that friendly matches could be fixed in favour of Ghana.
Subsequently, Kwesi Nyantakyi denied these claims and threatened legal action against the Telegraph newspaper.
FIFA’s statement reads as follows:
“The investigatory chamber of the FIFA Ethics Committee has concluded a preliminary investigation in relation to alleged match manipulation involving officials of the Ghana Football Association and a players’ agent licensed by the same association.
It followed articles published by UK newspaper The Telegraph between 22-24 June 2014 and the airing of the Dispatches programme “How to fix a football match” on Channel Four on 23 June 2014 that made claims of an alleged case of match manipulation linked to the organisation of international friendly matches involving Ghana’s national team.
The preliminary investigation, conducted in accordance with art. 62 of the FIFA Code of Ethics, included a request for documents and information from the relevant parties. Based on an analysis of the material, which included the limited portion of the footage made available by the relevant media outlets, and pursuant to the relevant rules established by the FIFA Code of Ethics, the investigatory chamber has decided to refer the matter to the Ghana FA.
In light of the seriousness of the allegations, the investigatory chamber will continue to monitor the investigations and any future proceedings conducted by the competent bodies of the Ghana FA, and reserves its right to revisit its position on this matter at any time.”
WHAT IT MEANS
What FIFA is saying is that, they have enough confidence in the GFA’s internal mechanisms to handle this issue.
However, FIFA, in the statement, has made it clear that they will still keep their eyes on the matter and will intervene as and when needed to find closure to the matter.
By: Nathan Quao/citifmonline.com/Ghana