UEFA suspended top Bulgarian referee Anton Genov as it investigates him for allegedly helping to fix an international friendly in a betting coup.
UEFA said on Tuesday it will not appoint Genov to a European match — an international, Champions League or Europa League fixture — during the investigation.
There were “obvious irregular betting patterns” during a Nov. 14 friendly between Macedonia and Canada, UEFA said.
“After interviewing the referee in question, UEFA has decided not to appoint Anton Genov to any European matches until further notice,” UEFA spokesman Rob Faulkner said in a statement.
Genov awarded four penalties, two to each side, during Macedonia’s 3-0 victory in Strumica.
Betting operators reportedly were alerted by the number of wagers placed on at least three goals being scored and on the number of penalties awarded.
Canada coach Stephen Hart said his memory of the officiating was Genov calling a “tight, tight” game.
“Anything was really a foul. It was along those lines, any sort of contact was a foul,” he told the Canadian Press on Tuesday.
“The penalty situation, it was just odd that four penalties would be called,” Hart said. “But having said that, other than that I didn’t really pay much attention to it. I just thought we’re playing away from home and you’re getting these calls that are consistent with playing away from home.”
The 43-year-old Genov has been on world governing body FIFA’s list of referees approved to take charge of international matches since 1999.
Referees must be on the list to be considered for selection to officiate at World Cup finals.
UEFA said last month it was investigating three top referees as part of Europe’s biggest ever match-fixing probe.
German police specializing in fraud and organized crime are leading the investigation which involves more than 200 matches in at least 11 countries.
UEFA general secretary Gianni Infantino described match-fixing as a “cancer we need to eradicate.”
On Monday, the Bulgarian Football Union (BFU) fired its referee commission which has responsibility for appointing officials to matches and assessing their performance.
The BFU cited a series of mistakes made by referees in league and cup matches.
Marloon Herrera was crying — happy tears. With Cuba trailing in the fifth inning of its Little League World Series (LLWS) opener on Thursday, Herrera lined a two-run double to give his team the lead. When the Czech Republic, representing Europe-Africa, made a pitching change, he ran over to give his third base coach a hug. Cuba went on to win 4-1. It was the first game at this year’s tournament for both sides, but it was also the beginning of Cuba’s second appearance in the series ever — and it was emotional. “You breathe baseball in Cuba,” manager Everaldo Machado said on
Taiwan on Friday beat Australia 11-0 at the Little League World Series in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania. Taiwan are represented at the tournament by Taoyuan’s Gueishan Elementary School, who won the Asia-Pacific regional tournament to earn the trip to the US. Australia are represented by the Hills Red team from Sydney. Taiwan advanced to a game tomorrow against Santa Clara, representing Cuba, who won 4-1 against the Czech Republic’s Brno, the Europe-Africa regional qualifiers. Australian starter Sayre Howick had a tough time controlling his pitches at Volunteer Stadium, one of which allowed Taiwan to open their account. They scored six in the inning and
World Boxing, an international amateur boxing organization formed last year after a breakdown in relations between the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the International Boxing Association (IBA), has announced the admission of Taiwan, along with four other nations, into its growing list of members. In a statement released on its Web site on Friday, the Swiss- based organization said that in addition to Taiwan, admitted as Chinese Taipei, Bhutan, Ecuador, Fiji and Pakistan have also become members. The new members all have well-rounded national and international boxing programs as well as transparency in the leadership and management of their national boxing programs,
COOLED DOWN: Du Plessis apologized after the fight for comments about his Nigerian-born opponent, after Adesanya said he planned to take the belt back to Africa South African Dricus du Plessis yesterday took a flurry of body hits across four rounds before defeating Israel Adesanya by submission to retain his middleweight championship at UFC 305. After scoring some early takedowns, Du Plessis (22-2) had to withstand a flurry of body strikes from Adesanya through the middle rounds, which appeared to be taking a toll on the 30-year-old South African as the fight progressed. However, a left hook followed by three rights helped bring Adesanya down, giving Du Plessis the opening he wanted as he swiftly got the choke hold that forced the Nigerian-born New Zealander to tap out