Fox Sports - Police in Spain have detained the coach of Eldense in an investigation into match-fixing. Filippo Vito di Pierro, who oversaw Eldense’s ugly 12-0 loss to Barcelona’s “B” team on Saturday, was arrested on Monday.
Authorities also took Nobile Capuani, who served as the club’s general director, into custody. Capuani represented a group of Italian investors that had recently partnered with Eldense, though the club announced they were severing ties with the Italian investors following the humiliating loss.
An Eldense player came forward and told local media that the fix was in after the loss, which pushed the club into the relegation zone with no chance of escape. Cheikh Saad said four of his teammates were involved in the scheme but refused to name them.
Saad said he learned match-fixers wanted the scored to be 8-0 at halftime and 12-0 at the end, both of which happened. He said he refused to play in the match and stayed on the bench while the match-fixing took place. “In the end, everything will be revealed,” he said.
Wow, this is some disgraceful news for the world of soccer, specifically the lower levels of Spanish play. After Eldense suffered a 12-0 defeat at the hands of Barcelona's B team, the coach and sporting director were immediately detained amid claims that the match was fixed for monetary gain.
12-0 in soccer is basically 150-12 in basketball or 120-0 in football if you're speaking comparatively, and to willingly put your players through that as the director of a club is despicable. With players crying on the pitch, there were allegedly four guys who were in on the fix. They should never play again.
This is a horrible look for soccer and for La Liga as a whole.