BARCELONA coach Josep Guardiola has called for an immediate Spanish Football Federation investigation into alleged match fixing in La Liga after a series of revelations plunged football in the country into a state of alarm similar to that which preceded Italy's ruinous Calciopoli scandal.
Following newspaper revelations of alleged match fixing in the promotion match between Tenerife and Malaga earlier this year and the relegation-influencing meeting between Levante and Athletic Bilbao in 2007, Guardiola has added his voice to the growing clamour by demanding that an immediate investigation be used as a device not only to convict the guilty, if they exist, but to prevent the scandal damaging the La Liga season and the reputation of Spanish football.
The latest allegations, surrounding Bilbao's 2-0 win at Levante which helped save the club and relegate Celta Vigo, also claim to implicate the Spanish Football Federation and claim its head, Angel Vilar, a Fifa vice-president, also knew about the fix.
Guardiola said yesterday: "It's the worst possible piece of news for Spanish football that these allegations are able to be made because match fixing is the thing which does the single most damage to our sport and its integrity.
"It's vital that the federation intervenes immediately, investigates and then punishes severely those who are found guilty of any offences. My view is that if anyone who has currently spoken out is found guilty of inventing claims of corruption then they should be punished equally stringently as anyone who is convicted of the most reprehensible crime of fixing' La Liga matches. It's inconceivable that the federation allows this stream of accusations to continue until the end of the season, ruining the good name of Spanish football and compromising what is turning into a thrilling La Liga campaign."
Guardiola's comments come in the wake of a newspaper interview earlier in the week, which opened the floodgates, when ex-Tenerife player Jesuli was quoted as admitting to the president of Real Sociedad, Inaki Badiola, that Sociedad missed out on promotion, in detriment to Malaga, because Tenerife players including Jesuli accepted a 6000 (£5200) bribe to lose to Malaga on June 15.
The player has denied the conversation and Malaga president Fernando Sanz issued a statement that his club "had nothing to do with any such action and deny any involvement in match fixing".
Immediately that bombshell was published in EL Mundo newspaper, TV channel Popular TV Mediterraneo aired what is alleged to be a taped conversation between the then Levante captain Inaki Descarga and Levante vice-president Julio Romero, in which they discuss the alleged "fixing" of their match against Athletic Bilbao on the last day of the 2006/2007 season when a 2-0 victory for the Basques, in a game which included an own-goal, saw Celta Vigo relegated.
The tape allegedly airs Descarga and Romero not only going into full details of who was involved but also claiming that Vilar, head of the Spanish Football Federation, was fully aware of the crime in advance of it taking place.
Before print, the Sunday Herald had not received notice of any statement on behalf of the federation reacting to the allegations but the mix was added to by Celta player Oscar Diaz claiming that players receiving money to influence results was rife.
"The rumours which have always surrounded football are now just coming out in the open," he said. "These revelations could stop it all because there will always be players who are willing to receive money to influence results and there will always be big clubs who have lots of money and do not expect to end up in the relegation struggle and may offer cash to help them escape it."
