Another stage of Operation Maximum Penalty raised suspicions of match-fixing in the 2022 Brazilian Series A Championship. According to investigations, six first division matches may have been affected by the scheme.
This Tuesday (18), the new phase of the operation resulted in the execution of three arrest warrants and 20 search and seizure warrants in 16 cities in six different states: São Paulo (in the cities of Bragança Paulista, Guarulhos, Presidente Venceslau, Santana de Parnaíba, Santo André, Santos and Taubaté), Rio de Janeiro, Recife, Erechim, Pelotas, Santa Maria, Chapecó, Tubarão and Goianira.
During the searches, a Juventude player told prosecutors that he was harassed to receive a yellow card in a game that was not on the initial list of the Public Ministry, held on September 10.
The number of matches under investigation in the current operation against match-fixing is equivalent to the 11 matches that were canceled by the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) in the 2005 Brazilian Championship, in the midst of the Mafia do Apito scandal. All games refereed by referee Edilson Pereira de Carvalho, who was directly involved in the scheme, were annulled and subsequently played again.
According to the Public Ministry of Goiás (MP-GO), through the Special Action Group to Combat Organized Crime (Gaeco) and the Institutional Security and Intelligence Coordination (CSI), the 11 suspicious games are as follows:
Paulista Championship
- 8/2/2023 – Guarani 2×1 Portuguesa (attempt to manipulate the athlete to be punished with a yellow card).
Goiás Championship
- 2/12/2023 – Goiás 2×0 Goiânia (encouragement so that Goiânia had a partial defeat at the end of the first half, which ended 2-0).
Mato Grosso Championship
- 2/11/2023 – Luverdense 0x2 Operário de Várzea Grande (attempt to manipulate to guarantee a certain number of corners during the match).
Gaucho Championship
- 2/11/2023 – Esportivo 0x0 Novo Hamburgo (manipulation of an athlete from Novo Hamburgo committing a penalty; there was a penalty for Esportivo, who wasted the kick);
- 2/12/2023 – Caxias 3×1 São Luiz (manipulation for an athlete from São Luiz to commit a penalty; there was a penalty in favor of Caxias during the game).
Brazilian championship
- 9/10/2022 – Palmeiras 2×1 Juventude (attempt to manipulate a Juventude athlete into taking a yellow card);
- 11/5/2022 – Santos 1×1 Avai (attempt to manipulate Santos athlete into taking a yellow card);
- 11/5/2022 – Red Bull Bragantino 1×4 América-MG (attempt to manipulate an athlete from Red Bull Bragantino to receive a yellow card);
- 11/5/2022 – Goiás 1×0 Juventude (attempt to manipulate two Juventude athletes to receive a yellow card);
- 11/6/2022 – Cuiabá 1×1 Palmeiras (attempt to manipulate an athlete from Cuiabá to receive a yellow card);
- 11/10/2022 – Botafogo 3×0 Santos (attempt to manipulate an athlete from Santos to receive a red card).