…club deducted points…
Football Association of Malawi (FAM) disciplinary committee has banned Nchalo United officials from all football related activities for match fixing.
The three, who have been banned for three years each, attempted to bribe referees in order to fix a 2017 Carlsberg Cup tie between Nchalo United and Chitipa United at Mzuzu Stadium.
The committee also slapped Nchalo United with a K500,000 fine and ruled that the club will have their first three points deducted in the 2018 TNM Super League.
The disciplinary committee met on 3rd February for a disciplinary hearing against Nchalo United, referees George Azizi Nyirenda, Limbani Chisambi, Stephano Gomani, Lameck Phiri and Jimmy
Nangantani Phiri for an alleged match fixing involvement in the said match.
According to a statement released by the FA, Nangantani Phiri pocketed K15,000 from Nchalo
United officials namely Enock Whayo, Mabvuto Lungu and Patson Nyengo to try to fix the match in their favor but never proceeded to give the money to the match officials.
The statement further states that after the final whistle, officials from Nchalo United, who lost the match through post-match penalties following a 1-1 result in regulation time, roughed up the match officials demanding back the K15,000 bribe as the match ended in favor of Chitipa United
The referees paid back the money.
And after thorough investigations, the disciplinary committee concluded that the match was not fixed.
“The disallowed goal for Nchalo United FC during the match removed any possibility of match fixing and that all available evidence presented suggested that Mr. George Azizi Nyirenda was not aware of the intended bribe being paid,” reads part of the statement.
The committee further found Nangantani Phiri guilty of attempting to fix the match after he admitted to have received the said amount meant to be used to bribe match officials though he never intended to hand-over the money.
Nangantani Phiri was slapped with a three year ban effective from 13th July 2017. The committee further banned him from entering any stadium in Malawi for 10 months effective from 8th February, 2018.
The committee however cleared referee Azizi Nyirenda of any wrongdoing in the whole saga but he was given a two month ban for failing to report the incident despite being aware of the intended bribe before the match kicked off.
Other referees Gomani and Chisambi were also cleared of any wrongdoing but the FA slapped the duo with a 4 month and 18 month ban respectively for failing to report the incident.
The committee further concluded that Nyirenda, Chisambo, Gomani and Lameck Phiri never handled the bribery money.
The disciplinary committee therefore overruled all life bans imposed on the match officials by the National Referees Committee just a week after the incident.
The FA committee however found the former Nchalo United head coach Mabvuto Lungu, general secretary Enock Whayo and Technical Director Patson Nyengo guilty of attempted match fixing.
The three were banned from any football related activities for three years effective from 13th July 2017.
The trio were also ordered not to enter any stadium in Malawi for the next 10 months starting from 8th February 2018.
