Slow-acting ball

Another case of rigged games rumbled in Belarusian football

Let’s go the limit, as the famous master of aphorisms would say: never before and once again! Belarusian football has experienced several high-profile corruption cases in its sovereign period, the last of which, in 2016, affected many people and several clubs — its echoes are still heard. However, the new foul play scandal, the decision on which was announced last week in the football federation, has surpassed, perhaps, all the previous ones. Never before have clubs been subjected to such harsh sanctions and have not been deprived  of already achieved medals.

On November 12th last year, Soligorsk's Shakhtyor defeated Bobruisk's Belshina — 4:1 — drawing a line under the 2022 championship, but it turned out that it all just started with it...
Photo by Aleksandr Kulevsky

At length the fox is brought to the furrier. Information about the first strings pulled by the Investigative Committee was leaked to the media at the beginning of the year, when top managers of the current champion of Belarus FC Shakhtyor Soligorsk were detained. There were many rumours, and on the sidelines, with each subsequent day, all the ‘flavours’ of a mess began to appear more and more clearly, forcing even the worldly-wise to frown. And here is the denouement: ABFF has published an official statement on its website. ‘The Control, Disciplinary and Ethical Affairs Committee of the ABFF considered information received from the Investigative Committee of the Republic of Belarus that during the 2022 Belarus Football Championship among teams of the major league, the management of FC Shakhtyor Soligorsk organised rigged games, and also carried out illegal financial promotion of major league teams, after which disciplinary proceedings were initiated, in which more than 20 persons involved in the above events were interviewed.’ What follows is a long enumeration of the measures that were taken against the violators. And they, let us note, are unprecedented.
FC Shakhtyor Soligorsk turned out to be the main defendant, which suffered the most severe punishment. 
Firstly, the club was deprived of the championship title won in the last championship and the right to represent the country in the upcoming Champions League season. Secondly, they received a huge fine of 10,000 base values (Br370,000). Thirdly, they were deprived of 30 tournament points in this year’s championship. This means that FC Shakhtyor Soligorsk, probably, may drop to the second division following the results of the championship, but it will not be easy there either, because in the 2024 season it will also have to start with a handicap — minus another 20 points!
The Control, Disciplinary and Ethical Affairs Committee unleashed a total attack on FC Energetik-BGU, the second main character in this incredible story: deprivation of silver medals from the last championship, minus 20 points in this championship, minus 10 points in the next one and a fine in the amount of 2,000 base values (Br74,000).
FC Belshina Bobruisk became the third victim: the same fine as ‘students’, as well as the deprivation of ten and five points in the current and upcoming championships.
Not without personal consequences, of course. Former Sports Director of FC Shakhtyor Soligorsk Vladimir Niederhaus has been declared persona non grata in Belarusian football. As well as former FC Belshina Bobruisk player Dmitry Gomza. Anatoliy Yurevich, the master of the Belarusian coaching department, also suffered a serious punishment: he was disqualified for 5 years and must pay a fine of 1,000 base values (Br37,000). It is curious that quite recently Yurevich was approved as a state football coach and his task was to organise the work of mentors not only in his on FC Energetik-BGU, but also throughout the country.
In addition to these decisions, there is a whole list of people who have also been subjected to disciplinary and financial sanctions — these are organisation men, mentors and football players. Among the most famous are FC Dynamo Brest forward Mikhail Gordeychuk and FC Shakhtyor Soligorsk midfielder Nikita Korzun, who also recently defended the honour of the national team. Both are suspended for a year.
Following the resonant decisions of the Control, Disciplinary and Ethical Affairs Committee, the standings of the 2022 championship were revised (gold and silver were decided not to be awarded to anyone), as well as the list of teams that will represent Belarus in European cup tournaments. New input data, however, also leave questions.
It was announced that FC BATE Borisov will play in the Champions League, FC Dinamo Minsk and  FC Isloch in the Conference League. 
The winner of the Belarusian Cup should get the last European cup spot, but FC BATE Borisofv will play in the final against FC Torpedo-BELAZ Zhodino...
In recent years, Belarusian football has experienced many misfortunes. However, in order to begin the revival and the way up, apparently, it is necessary to completely and finally be cleansed of filth. There’s no other way.

The Soligorsk club has voiced its position in response to the decisions of the Control, Disciplinary and Ethical Affairs Committee of the ABFF, depriving it of the championship in the 2022 season and the upcoming European cups. 
“We inform you that at present the decisions of the Committee of Control, Disciplinary and Ethical Issues and the Licensing Committee of the ABFF, which relate to FC Shakhtyor Soligorsk, have not been officially sent to the club. We have the opportunity to study only publications on the official website of the association. After receiving these documents and their comprehensive study, the club will decide on an appeal in accordance with the regulatory documents of the ABFF,” the statement says.

Former football player of the Belarusian national team Sergei Gurenko, 
“If these were prearranged matches, rigged games, then everything is correct — the participants should be punished. If it was an incentive, then I don’t see any crime or anything illegal here. Now, if the judge were thanked, it’s another matter. But if, for example, a fan of the club says: ‘Guys, play well, and I will bring pizza to the locker room for the whole team’. How will this be assessed? In my opinion, there are many black spots in this case. We have some guesses. After all, no one in the federation publicly explains what exactly the participants in the case were guilty of. They simply referred to the articles of the Disciplinary Code and did not describe in detail why there was such a punishment, what exactly each of the defendants in the case had done. Why was 50 points deducted from FC Shakhtyor Soligorsk, and only 30 from FC Energetik-BGU? Why not 100, 80 or 44? There are so many questions. I think the ABFF should figure out where the stimulation is, where the deliberate surrender of the match is, where the rigged game is. These are three different concepts.”

FC Belshina Bobruisk head coach Albert Rybak,
“I can’t understand why we were punished. We didn’t surrender any games. If Gomza was involved in some kind of rigged games, then all the other players played honestly. The coaches did their job. No tricks. We also played fairly with FC Dinamo Minsk.” 

By Sergei Kanashits