The champion of the country Shakhtar Soligorsk was stripped of the title, » Energetik-BGU» — silver medals. And this is only the top of the problems faced by the Belarusian club football. The unprecedented sanctions were a reaction to match-fixing.
«One of the darkest days in history» Incredible events are taking place in Belarus, which seems to have decided to repeat the fate of the Italian top clubs, mired in corruption schemes. That story was called «calciopoli». For example, the great Turin Juventus, who was sent to Serie B, was caught cheating. It is clear that it is not entirely correct to compare the two championships, but the scale of the disaster is quite comparable.
Over the past few months, the Belarusian Football Federation, together with the investigating authorities, have been considering the cases of the two strongest teams of the last season — Shakhtar and Energetik. The club from Soligorsk became the champion of the country for the third time in a row, and the Minskers were the main discovery of the league and sensationally climbed to second place. Both teams were supposed to represent Belarus in European competition. The decision was postponed until the last moment — and on May 11 it was finally published. It turned out as hard as possible.
Shakhtar were not only stripped of the title and participation in the Champions League, but also taken away 30 points this season. In the new table, the Soligorsk club now has minus 17 points. Moreover, next year they will start the season with a liability of minus 20 points, in whichever league they end up. Team captain Mykyta Korzun was disqualified for a year, and, of course, Shakhtar was also fined.
A similar punishment overtook Energetik, who was deprived of not 30, but 20 points, and next year they will remove another ten points. The main ideological organizer of the club, Anatoly Yurevich, also fell under the sanctions, he was disqualified for as much as five years. It is curious that quite recently he was appointed curator of all Belarusian football. So that you understand the scale of the scandal.
“Friends, we don’t know what to say here, but this is probably one of the blackest days in the history of the team. But we will cope with difficulties, be with us, support us! » — stated in the message of the club.
Another punished club was «Belshina», she was deprived of 10 points in the current season and five points in the next. A player from the team of Dmitry Gomza has been declared persona non grata in Belarusian football, plus several other players may be suspended for six months. In particular, we are talking about the leader of «Dynamo» from Brest Mikhail Gordeychuk. The publication «Pressball» reported that despite the suspension of the first two teams of last season, the champion will not be appointed. BATE, who took third place, will remain the bronze medalist, but at the same time will get the opportunity to represent Belarus in the Champions League.
Causes and details of what happened Now to the main thing. Why did it all happen? According to the investigation, during the national championship last year, Shakhtar's management organized match-fixing, and illegal incentives were also carried out for the teams of the major leagues. And Shakhtar was led by the former Russian football star Vladimir Nidergaus, who many probably remember from the time he played for Rotor Volgograd in the 90s. Vladimir was even invited to the national team, and after completing his career, he worked as a functionary in his native Rotor and a number of leading clubs in Kazakhstan.
Together with Shakhtar, Niederhaus won the league title, but at the beginning of this year he became the main defendant in a criminal case on the fact of bribing competitors in the Belarusian Premier League. Football.by revealed some details of what the Rotor legend is accused of. Niederhaus is suspected of transferring money to Belshina player Gomza as an incentive for his club to take points from Dynamo Minsk, one of Shakhtar's main competitors.
It is not entirely clear who else was involved in the scheme, but almost the entire composition of Belshina was called to the investigative committee for a conversation, with the exception of a number of legionnaires. A similar procedure was followed by the players and the management team of Energetik-BSU, including Anatoly Yurevich.
According to the publication, Niederhaus also contacted Mikhail Gordeychuk from Dynamo Brest with the proposal, but he allegedly did not agree to participate in the «agreement». The match between Shakhtar and the same Belshina with the very same Gomza in the squad also fell under suspicion. It was he who could receive 20 thousand dollars from Niederhaus for the desired result in this game. In that match, by the way, Gomza ran into his own penalty area and earned a penalty, which seemed to many unnecessary and strange.
Judging by the fact that Niederhaus was recognized as persona non grata in Belarusian football, and all three clubs fell under the most powerful sanctions, although if the investigative committee could prove part of the guilt. However, all this remains to be sorted out for a long time.