Marcus Vinícius Alves, now a former soccer player for the Vila Nova club in Brazil, was the first of those sentenced for the alleged sports betting scandal that broke out the week before in the South American country and was intended to benefit a betting mafia.
In a Brazilian sports court, Alves was sentenced for match-fixing, which will ban him for life from entering any stadium or institution as a player or fan.
According to the justice that sentenced the First Disciplinary Commission of the Superior Court of Sports Justice, in addition to the sanction, he must pay a fine of approximately $5,000 dollars.
In the same trial, midfielder Gabriel Domingos, also a former Vila Nova player and Alves’ teammate, received a 720-day suspension without stepping foot in a soccer stadium and payment of $3,000 dollars in judicial compensation premiums.
Alves, 21, was found guilty of violating article 242 of the Brazilian Code of Sports Justice, which prohibits soccer players from “giving or promising any undue advantage to any athlete to influence the outcome of a match or the equivalent.”
His partner, on the other hand, was sentenced for violating article 243, which prohibits “deliberately acting in a way that is detrimental to the defending team.”
While Romário was sentenced for offering bribes to his colleagues, that is, for actively participating in the criminal network as an inducer, Domingos was sentenced for accepting one of those proposals.
The first instance decision can still be appealed before the full court by the two sanctioned.
This is the first trial to be held in Brazil after the authorities investigated and concluded that the criminal sports betting network allegedly committed fraud in at least 13 first and second division matches in Brazilian soccer between 2022 and 2023.
Keep reading:
- Seven soccer players will be tried in Brazil for match-fixing and could face million-dollar fines and jail terms
- New soccer players are separated from soccer teams in Brazil under investigation for match fixing
- Contract terminated for one of the footballers allegedly involved in the match-fixing scandal in Brazil