FIFA to Back Investigation into Fishy Bulgaria Friendly

Siyabonga Sangweni nets the opener against Bulgaria on May 24 2010. Photo by Getty Images

An independent judicial inquiry backed by football’s world governing body FIFA is to investigate a match-fixing scandal involving the South African national team in the build up to the 2010 World Cup.

One of the games that will be investigated was South Africa’s friendly against Bulgaria. The game was played on May 24 2010 in Johannesburg and ended in a 1:1 draw.

Bafana Bafana's matches against   Thailand, Guatemala and Colombia were also allegedly fixed by Singaporean Wilson Raj Perumal.

Allegations of the rigged games were first revealed in July 2011 by the country’s press but the South African football association failed to act immediately.

Euronews has reminded that it was only when FIFA included the country in a wider investigation into Perumal, who has been jailed for two years for masterminding a match-fixing scheme in Finland, that the issue was raised again.

“This long-standing open case is harming South African football,” said FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke in a FIFA statement published following a meeting with South Africa Sports Minister Fikile Mbalula.

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