Zimbabwe`s football match-fixing report this week

Harare: An independent ethics committee set-up by the Zimbabwe Football Association (ZIFA) to investigate match-fixing claims will be submitting its reports later this week.

ZIFA early this year suspended more than 90 players and three board members on allegations of match-fixing following seemingly dubious games played in Asia between 2007 and 2009, reports Xinhua. The suspensions saw most of the senior team players being sidelined, pending the outcome of investigations by the independent ethics committee. Some of the players and a coach allegedly admitted throwing away games during exhibition matches in lieu of cash rewards. A senior official has since been fired and awaits trial in the courts of law on corruption charges. However, some players have since been cleared as the investigations proceeded, but national team coach Rahman Gumbo still finds himself with a limited number of players to choose from. Singaporean Wilson Raj Perumal, who is in jail in Finland for fixing activities, is believed to have been part of the betting syndicate involving the Zimbabwe team. IANS