BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

26/07/2007

Belarus police accuse former goalkeeper of offering players money to throw games

The Associated Press

MINSK, Belarus: Police have issued an arrest warrant for former Belarus goalkeeper Valery Shantalosov after he was accused of offering teammates money to throw two qualifiers for the 2004 European Championship.

"Investigators have established that in 2003, Shantalosov met with other players on the national team on several occasions and offered them tens of thousands of dollars to lose with the necessary goal difference," Minsk police investigative head Gennady Kazakevich said Thursday.

The games in question were against the Czech Republic and Moldova in September 2003.

Having already lost five of its first six games to have no chance of qualifying, Belarus lost 3-1 at home to the Czech Republic and 2-1 at Moldova four days later. Shantalosov did not play in either game.

Kazakevich said investigators suspect that Shantalosov was working with a "famous Russian sports journalist," whom he did not name.

Shantalosov currently works as a trainer with Russian second-division team Sibir.

"This is a provocation," Shantalosov told Belarus' Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper. "If there were facts against me then they wouldn't have let me travel or work. ... I am prepared to explain everything to the president of the country and the head of the football federation of Belarus."

Shantalosov made 24 appearances for Belarus and was voted best goalkeeper in the country in 2001 and '02, but last played for the national team in 2005.

Source:

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/07/26/sports/EU-SPT-SOC-Belarus-Match-Fixing.php

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