Also standing accused are Leixões SC president Carlos Oliveira and the club’s Director of Sport Nuno Silva. The main target of the PJ operation ‘Jogo Duplo’ were criminal schemes associated with online gambling.
Many Second Division players are on less than a thousand euros per month and many only receive their wages months in arrears. Just last week Joaquim Evangelista, president of the Professional Footballers Association said, “given the weak position of Oliveirense, I was alerted to the non-payment of wages. We must strengthen the control mechanisms and take a more rigorous look at the registration of clubs.”
Fifteen players and officials have been arrested so far by the PJ and at the present time Oliveirense, Oriental (Lisbon), Leixões and Ac Viseu are under investigation.
SC Farense who have technically been relegated despite winning their final game 3-2 away at Gil Vicente could receive a reprieve.
Farense president, António Barão believes his team will escape relegation and stated, “the available data points to the practice of unlawful acts of extreme gravity and the clubs involved, as well as their agents, must be exemplarily punished”.
António Barão went on to stress that, “we have more than enough reasons to believe that, given the match-fixing, we will not go down and the league may find it difficult to ratify the championship, in the face of what is now known.”