Zimbabwe Football Players Suspended in Match Fixing Probe

Posted January 31st, 2012 at 9:55 am (UTC-5)
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The Zimbabwe Football Association has suspended at least 67 players, including most of the national team, after a probe into alleged match-fixing.

A number of Zimbabwe players told investigators they accepted money from an Asian betting syndicate to lose friendly matches during team trips to the Far East between 2007 and 2009.

Zimbabwe Football Association chief executive Jonathan Mashingaidze said all players implicated in the scandal cannot play in any national team matches until they are cleared by the association's ethics committee, which continues its investigation.

Mashingaidze said the feeling in Zimababwe is the national team is failing to qualify for major tournaments, such as the African Cup of Nations now going on in Equatorial Guinea and Gabon, because players tainted by the scandal were being used.

Last year, ZIFA suspended three board members for their alleged involvement with the scandal.