Disgrace of Gijón
The match-fixing allegedly took place during the World Cup group stages of the 1982 and this came as a shocker to world of football. This match fixing was too obvious for people that saw it and yet neither West Germany nor Austria penalized for the act. FIFA officially stated that no rules had been broken!
A 1-0 win for West Germany would see both sides progress from the group stage at Algeria’s expense. The Germans scored the needed goal within 10 minutes. Both teams quite literally passed the ball to each other for the entire duration of the game!
That act resulted to worldwide condemnation and this provoked FIFA to include a new rule for the final group games of tournaments, stating that all matches must be played simultaneously
Plateau United Feeders 79-0 Akurba FC and Police Machine 67-0 Babayaro FC (2013)
These matches were played at the same time, Plateau United Feeders reportedly scored 72 of their goals in the second half to beat Akurba FC 79-0. Police Machine swept 61 goals past Babayaro FC in the second 45 minutes of their 67-0 game.
The NFF called it “a mind-boggling show of shame” and said players, match officials and the tournament coordinator would be investigated for match-fixing.
The federation’s director of competitions said “anyone found to have played some role in this despicable matter” would be “severely dealt with”.
Calciopoli (2006)
Calciopoli was a scandal in Italy’s top professional football league, Serie A, and to a lesser extent Serie B. The scandal was uncovered in May 2006, when a number of telephone interceptions showed relations between team managers and referee organizations during the 2004–05 and 2005–06 seasons, being accused of selecting favourable referees.
This implicated league champions Juventus and several other teams including Milan, Fiorentina, Lazio, and Reggina. In July 2006, Juventus were stripped of the 2004–05 title (which was left unassigned), and was downgraded to last place in the 2005–06 championship (the title was subsequently awarded to Internazionale) and relegated to Serie B. Many prison sentences were handed out to sporting directors and referees, but after almost a decade of investigation, all were acquitted in 2015 due to the expiration of the statute of limitations, except for a one-year sentence confirmed to referee Massimo De Santis.
Cremonese vs Paganese (Serie C)
Former Cremonese goalkeeper Marco Paolini was found guilty of spiking the drinks and water bottles of his teammates with tranquilizers!
Paolini was so deep in gambling debts that he was willing to fix the game to pay them off. Cremonese players were sluggish and lethargic during the game, with some struggling to walk. One player notably crashed their car on the way home afterwards.
When tests showed that they had been drugged, investigations were launched and eventually pointed at Paolini as the main culprit. The former goalkeeper was eventually banned for five years.
