Ghania's former goalkeeper Abukari Damba, at the centre of match-rigging allegations surrounding the 2006 World Cup, has denied any involvement.
Damba hit back at claims that he was involved in match-fixing during the World Cup in Germany. The allegations were raised by Canadian investigative journalist Declan Hill, who claims that England's last 16 victory over Ecuador, Ghana's defeat to Brazil and Italy's victory over the Ukraine during the tournament in Germany may have been rigged.
Hill claims he has significant evidence to show that Brazil’s 3-0 win over Ghana in the last 16 was fixed by members of the Asian gambling mafia. In his book ‘The Fix’, which comes out on Tuesday, Hill claims that ex-Ghanaian footballer Abukari Damba (36) acted as the middleman between the players and the gambling organisation.
Full interview with Damba at link...is it true?Ghania's former goalkeeper Abukari Damba, at the centre of match-rigging... more
Canadian journalist Declan Hill spoke to SPIEGEL about his investigation into betting syndicates in Asia. He claims to have uncovered evidence that the result of the last-16 football match between Ghana and Brazil during the 2006 World Cup was fixed.
SPIEGEL: You have spent three years investigating the international betting mafia. Have you lost all pleasure in football?
Declan Hill: I love football the way one loves a woman, but by now I ask myself quite early on in a match, whether there is anything suspicious going on. There are no precise statistics about betting manipulation in football, of course, but it is shocking how often people in the world of betting talk about matches that have been manipulated – not just in Asia or Eastern Europe, but also in the major football leagues, such as in Germany, and even during world championships.
SPIEGEL: Is that something you would have expected?
Hill: Absolutely not, and that’s why I took plenty of time in the book to allow the reader to follow my own process of realization. I still vividly remember standing at the edge of a dusty track after meeting an informer in Ghana, with the wind blowing across from the Sahara, thinking: This is just incredible.
SPIEGEL: In your book you claim that the match between Brazil and Ghana in the last-16 round at the 2006 World Cup was fixed. The starting point for your investigation is a figure from the Thai betting scene. How did you meet him in Bangkok?
Hill: That was a drawn-out process that took months. In the Asian gambling world, every insider knows his name. He is a shadow figure about whom not much is known. He’s said to have been manipulating games for 15 years, his name turns up in the case files of match fixing in Asia. He organizes the bets and their manipulation. In my book I called him Lee Chin. In November 2005 he finally invited me to a golf club on the outskirts of Bangkok. The conversation that ensued over the next two and a quarter hours was one of the strangest I have ever had.
(interview continued at link)Canadian journalist Declan Hill spoke to SPIEGEL about his investigation into betting... more
