Fine of € 50000 to Hermes for manipulating the match with ENP

Fine of 50 thousand euros to Hermes for manipulating the cup match with ENP (19/1)

123 61 exclusive, ENP, HERMES, Fine, match manipulation

A fine of 50 thousand euros to Hermes - as provided by the relevant regulations - for manipulating the cup match with ENP (19/1), was imposed by the Sports Judge of KOP Aristotelis Vryonidis.

The detailed text of the decision of the Sports Judge:

The club of Hermes Aradippou (hereinafter "Hermes") is referred for suspicious betting activity in the context of the COCA - COLA A 'and B' category cup match, Phase B between ENP - HERMES ARADIPPOU which took place on 19/1/2022 .

This referral is based on information from the competent department of the European Football Association (UEFA) through which blame and / or blame is attributed to the club of Hermes, in violation of Article 10 s (1) (2)
(3) (4) of the Disciplinary Regulations of the KOP.

Hermes's association was referred to the above accusation by the Disciplinary Prosecutor with a relevant letter dated 26/1/2022 and the association received relevant information on the same day.

According to the relevant referral letter dated 26/1/2022, Hermes's club was summoned if it wished to submit its views in writing to the Sports Judge through the KOP no later than Monday 31/1/2022.

Hermes's union chose not to send anything to be brought before me during the trial of this case.

The Disciplinary Prosecutor presented to me all the information concerning the present case and in particular all the information material sent by the competent service of the European Football Association (UEFA) to the KOP.

From this material it is ascertained that UEFA sent to the KOP on 21/1/2022 a relevant report within the framework of the betting fraud detection system, considering as considered manipulated the said football match.

In parallel with an attached letter, UEFA announced its findings to the KOP, blaming Hermes's club.

Before proceeding to my final findings, I consider it necessary to refer to the provisions of article 10 (s) of the Disciplinary Regulations of the CPC as this was recently amended by the Board of Directors of the CPC.

This provision of the Disciplinary Regulations explicitly states the following:

"A. In the event that UEFA is notified of a suspicious betting activity on any League football match organized by the KOP and in which a specific club is blamed and / or blamed, the following penalties will be imposed:

In the first case, a fine of € 50.000 will be imposed on the guilty association

In the second case, a fine of € 50.000 and a deduction of 6 points will be imposed on the guilty association. In case the file concerns group B, C or select category STOK or any other category of KOP championship, then
In addition to the penalty of € 50.000 and the deduction of 6 points, the penalty of banning the club from promotion to the above higher category will be imposed and its position will be promoted to the next club.

The third file will impose a ban on the participation of clubs, in the Championship in which they participate (ranking) and cut all sponsorships and / or income that clubs would receive from their participation in these tournaments, by the Cyprus Football Federation.

In the fourth file, a fine of € 100.000 will be imposed and at the same time the union will be deleted from the register of members of the federation. In this case, the association that has been deleted from the register of members of the federation will not have the right to register and participate in the KOP championships for the next 5 years. will be addressed by the Board of Directors of KOP, which based on the articles of association has the responsibility for the implementation of the penalty of expulsion of the association.

The Board of Directors of KOP will address the issue immediately after the referral before it of the Decision of the Sports Judge.

B. In cases where the dossier sent by UEFA and does not attribute and / or attribute fault to any club, then it will be filed without referral to any one before the Sports Judge.

C. In cases where the file sent by UEFA clearly shows that the attempted manipulation of the match on the basis of the suspicious betting activity was not achieved (the specific bet failed) then the file will be archived without referring it to any Athletic Judge.
It is understood that the file for all data will be referred for further examination
and investigation by the Police. "

Based on the above, I have no doubt that the testimony that has been brought before me demonstrates (based on the relevant regulation) that Hermes's association has committed the crime of manipulating a specific result in
reported match, which is confirmed by the suspicious betting activity of the reported cup match which took place on 19/1/2022.

According to the findings of the competent service of UEFA, it is clear that the betting market showed that some of the bettors had prior knowledge that Hermes would lose the match by 5 goals, a fact that
would bring significant betting winnings.

I fully accept the conclusion of this particular UEFA committee that this unusual betting activity was the result of manipulation by the Hermes team to make a financial profit from the betting markets.

It should be emphasized that according to the latest amendment of this regulation by the Board of Directors of KOP, it was established that the commission of an offense is based when and if the competent UEFA committee blames and / or blames a specific club.

Therefore, based on the information that the KOP received from the competent committee of UEFA, it is clear that the mentioned football match is blamed and / or blamed on Hermes's club.

In view of the above and always in accordance with the relevant provision of the Disciplinary Regulation, I impose a fine of € 50.000 on the association of Hermes.

The execution of the above decision is suspended for 8 days from the day after the notification of this decision to your union, according to Article 74 (C) of the Disciplinary Regulation of the KOP.

The above fine under Article 17 of the Disciplinary Regulations must be paid within 30 days from the day the suspension of execution of the sentence ends.

Unfortunately, once again I am called upon to impose penalties on a club regarding match-fixing. It is with particular concern and dissatisfaction that I read the contents of the report of the European Football Association in which there are clear references to the way in which this football match was manipulated. At the same time, the UEFA report mentions specific footballers who participated and / or played a key role in the manipulation of this match.

I would like to emphasize that all the bodies that make up Cypriot Football must finally take all the necessary steps to combat the phenomenon of manipulation of football matches, which inevitably irreparably affects the credibility of both the Cypriot and of the teams themselves which constitute the backbone of Cypriot Football.

I call on the state and the competent authorities of the Police to thoroughly examine this report of UEFA and to assign responsibilities where appropriate in order to protect the football product of Cyprus, whose credibility is affected by such phenomena.

Furthermore, I would like to express my satisfaction with the fact that the Board of Directors of KOP, realizing the seriousness of the issue and especially the extent to which the issue has taken on in recent years, proceeded to draft a new regulation which includes dissuasive penalties for deviant unions. .

I would like to warn all the clubs that I am determined to strictly observe all the provisions of the new regulation, imposing the prescribed penalties in an obvious effort to consolidate Cypriot football.