Náutico-RR manager registers BO against his own team on suspicion of result manipulation after a rout in the Brazilian Series D
Photo: Lucas Figueiredo / CBF

After the team took the biggest rout of Série D of the Brasileirão 2022, football manager Marcelo Pereira sought the police to make a police report (BO) asking for an investigation against players from the club itself due to the suspicion of having sold the game in the defeat by 10 x 2 against Trem, from Amapá, this Monday, 6.

“I made the incident report to be on the safe side. I have nothing to do with result manipulation. I don’t know if there was a blackout, they didn’t feel like playing, the goals came naturally. I saw a lot of soft body there. I will ask the CBF to investigate this game. It was a scoundrel, we are sad because we try to do the right football, but look what happens”, said Pereira.

Last placed in Key 1, Náutico-RR moved to Amapá to face Trem for the eighth round of the fourth national division, aiming for the first victory. The team has the second worst campaign in the championship, which has 64 teams and the worst defense: there were 32 goals conceded in eight matches, an average of four goals per match so far.

According to an article by Globo Esporte, the leader defended himself from accusations on social media that he was involved in an alleged manipulation of results for being the current manager. “I made the report to be on the safe side. We stay, players come and go. Out of debt, out of danger. A lot of people think, judge us without thinking or talking”, he declared.

Trem player celebrates a goal on top of Náutico-RR, for Série D. Photo: Facebook / Trem-Amapá

Request for investigation of alleged manipulation of results in Series D

Also in an interview with GE, Marcelo Pereira assured that he will send a request to the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) for an investigation into the game.

“I will forward it to the CBF (the bulletin) and ask them to investigate this game and the other games that also had a negative result. Not that every game we lost was a game sale, no, but this one was really screwed up by the result. They have to investigate, breach of telephone secrecy, bank account, they have to investigate, because we try to do the right football, but look what happens”.

But this is not the first defeat suffered by the team from Roraima in the competition. The team was defeated by 5 to 1, against São Raimundo (AM), in the sixth round. After the match, Pereira went to a police station in Manaus to file a report against several athletes from Náutico-RR, claiming that a possible manipulation took place, with the ‘sale of the match’ by the players of the team itself, on May 21.

“I had to make another bulletin just to be on the safe side, because I have nothing to do with it. I’ve done it once there in Manaus. This time it was worse, the result was doubled (defeat for the Train by 10 to 2). There are so many things that we are suspicious of. These (sports) bets have changed football a bit. I have a clear conscience. This time the bulletin is against everyone (players who played), because I can’t point anyone. In the other game I suspect some athletes, not this time”, he explained.

After this rout for the Amazon team, the manager decided to remove and even dismiss several athletes. However, the manager did not mention names or whether the dismissed athletes could have been involved in the cases.

“We changed a lot of athletes. There were also a lot of kids there who played little, or if they only played in the base category. We still have games, like São Raimundo in Roraima. I’m going to release more of these athletes, and then we sacrifice ourselves again, take out debt, borrow, but we’re not subject to that kind of thing”, concluded Pereira.

Sports betting regulation could curb irregularities

Currently, Brazil does not have a defined regulation for the sports betting market. The approval of specific rules for this practice is still under debate in the Federal Government, but it would help to curb and punish this type of irregularity. In addition, regulation of the sports betting industry would also serve to determine mechanisms to further protect sports integrity.