The South African Football Association (SAFA) claims people knew there will be a penalty for Ghana in their 2022 Fifa World Cup qualifier as betting spiked after 10 minutes into the game.
The Bafana Bafana suffered a 1-0 defeat to the Black Stars Sunday, November 14 in a Group G decider of the African qualifiers courtesy of an Andre Ayew 32nd minute penalty.
The loss meant South Africa missed out on the playoffs and will be rendered inactive and restricted to only friendly games for the whole of 2022 because they’ve also missed out on the 2021 Afcon finals.
Addressing a press conference Wednesday morning, SAFA President Danny Jordaan said he was sure there was betting and wants it investigated by Fifa.
“There was betting on the match. It is a fact that there was betting on the match.
“We want Fifa to investigate this also. What happens in betting, if you know in the 10th minute the referee is going to give a penalty, then there is a betting spike just before the penalty is given.
“If that happens, if the betting spikes coincide with the decision, then you know. But, how is it that there is a betting spike just before a major decision is taken?
“So they knew when to bet because it’s online betting, so you watch the match because you have the information.
“We don’t have the capacity to do that [investigation] so we have asked Fifa to do that.”
SAFA has filed a complaint to Fifa to investigate the performance of the match officials and want the game replayed.
By Adamu Benin Abdul Karim | www.sportyafrica.com
