FIFA World Cup and Soccer News: Match Fixer Wilson Raj Perumal Talks About Corruption
Soccer is by far the most popular sport in the world. Because of its enormous popularity, wide range game play, financial success and global attendance, it's no surprise that there are going to be negative profiteers involved. Corruption and deception will always be lurking. No sports league is perfect.
Even Major League Baseball had the infamous Black Sox Scandal, the 1919 World Series.
Wilson Raj Perumal is one of the most infamous names in the soccer community today. The 49-year-old from Singapore has been convicted multiple times for match fixing and bribing. He has spent years behind bars for his actions and has been involved in multiple scandals.
In a recent interview reported by Matthew Karnitschnig of the Wall Street Journal, Perumal was in Hungary speaking against former connections and friends who took part in previous fixes.
Perumal explained that the majority of the games he fixed were friendlies and exhibition games. He goes into specific detail in his book "Kelong King" how he was so successful for a long period of time.
Perumal said in the interview, "If FIFA really wanted to do something, they could."
Later, he said, "FIFA could be doing a lot of things to stop international friendlies from being manipulated, including checking on the background of the organizers and whether an outside agent is involved."
Although Asia has had very little success at the World Cup, never having a single National Team qualify for a World Cup Final, it is believed to be the center of the corruption. The sports betting that takes place in numerous Asian countries is generating extremely high amounts of revenue, illegally.
According to ESPN, Perumal was arrested in 2011. He was carrying a false passport and was put under surveillance by police. They watched him over the next few days talk to multiple players. Eventually after his arrest, he opened up and confessed about his actions in the past. In exchange for a lighter sentence, Perumal gave investigators a lot of information about his former associates and information on how the illegal betting works.
It was reported that Perumal had "rigged" more than 100 games spanning across five continents.
The World Cup has always been under some scrutiny in the past. The 1978 World Cup has faced controversy, as has the 1934 World Cup. Both Argentina and Italy won those World Cups on their home soil. Nothing has been officially proven with either of those two, but debates still continue on the integrity of those games. The home team usually does significantly better during the World Cup.
Perumal was first arrested in 1995 for fixing games in his home country of Singapore.
Perumal didn't just place bets on soccer games. He also placed money on NBA games, most notably the Chicago Bulls. Everyone knows that the NBA has had an identity problem since the "Tim Donaghy Scandal." Donaghy is a former NBA official who admitted to fixing games that he officiated.
Being the "middle man," Perumal is at the most risk. He is in direct contact with players, managers and officials. he also handled much of the money. FIFA is glad that he is finally rid of his match fixing days, but Perumal isn't the boss. Perumal spent much of his time and did a lot business with Dan Tan, a match fixer himself who is now 50 years old. Tan was in charge of their money travel. Much of their financial gain came from China and South East Asia.
Tan has been arrested multiple times for illegally betting on numerous sports. Tan was one of the men mentioned by Perumal to authorities when arrested in Finland.
The success of so many soccer betters remains because of low relevance of many games and location. A lot of the fixed matches are friendlies and exhibitions. The most notorious ones of course being the 2010 fake Togo game and "Asiagate" involving the Zimbabwe national team. These games don't hold nearly the same amount global popularity or relevance as the World Cup, but the money is still there.
FIFA President Sepp Blatter has said constantly that the 2014 World Cup was "clean" and officiated properly. There were reports that Perumal had predicted the score of Cameroon-Croatia correctly in an online chat room, which ended 4-0. This has not been proven, but it certainly raised some eyebrows.
With soccer being the most popular sport in the world, it will always have a number individuals and groups that will give it a bad name. There's no proof or verification whatsoever that FIFA has any ties to this underground fixing corruption.
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