Midfielder Marcos Vinicius Alves Barreira, better known as Romário, was banned from football by the Superior Court of Sports Justice (STJD), last Monday, 29, in addition to being fined R$ 25,000. The former Vila Nova player was punished for being part of a soccer match fixing scheme.
On the same occasion, the STJD also punished steering wheel Gabriel Domingos with a suspension of 720 days and a fine of R$ 15,000. According to the court’s note, the decisions were taken unanimously. But, as the judgment was in the first instance, there is still the possibility of appeal.
The penalties are due to the participation of the two athletes in a match-fixing scheme in the game between Vila Nova and Sport for the 2022 edition of Série B of the Brazilian Championship, which was played on November 6.
According to the allegations, which are the result of an operation by the Public Ministry of Goiás (MP-GO) called Maximum Penalty, Romário, who at the time was playing for Vila Nova, acted to try to co-opt athletes to commit penalties in the game in question.
Gabriel, who also defended the Goiás team at the time, ended up involved in the case by stating, in exchange for messages with bettors, that he would accept the proposal, which did not materialize in the end. The information is from Agência Brasil.
Investigation into match-fixing began with a complaint from the president of Vila Nova
The MP-GO investigation into match-fixing emerged in February, based on a complaint made by the president of Vila Nova, Hugo Jorge Bravo.
On that occasion, the manager revealed that Romário accepted R$ 150,000 to commit a penalty in the first half of the game against Sport. Bravo should be heard at the Chamber of Deputies sports betting CPI this Tuesday, 30.
Subsequently, in April, the MP-GO expanded the scope of investigations, starting to investigate possible irregular events in last year’s Series A matches and this year’s state championships.
