Former Atlantis FC goalkeeper given suspended sentence for taking a bribe

Unknown party wagered heavily on outcome of First Division game

Aleksandr Mištšuk

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Aleksandr Mištšuk, the former goalkeeper for the Finnish First Division side Atlantis FC, was given a four-month suspended prison sentence on Tuesday by the Helsinki District Court after being found guilty of taking a bribe to influence the outcome of a game in 2006.
      Mištšuk was also ordered to pay court costs and to return to the state the financial gain of EUR 1,500 he made from his actions.
     
The goalkeeper is the first footballer playing in Finland to be convicted of involvement in match-fixing.
      The case revolved around a game between RoPS of Rovaniemi and the Helsinki club Atlantis FC on September 24th, 2006.
      Mištšuk has announced he will be appealing the verdict.
     
The court determined on the basis of betting patterns that some as yet unknown party gambled on the outcome of the match based on criteria other than purely sporting factors.
      Regardless of the odds being offered, a veritable Niagara of money poured in on RoPS.
      The court examined the betting patterns on the match on the British-based Betfair internet betting exchange, to a total of EUR 314,000.
      Under normal circumstances, a match in the Finnish Premier League (Veikkausliiga) can expect to attract not much more than EUR 10,000 in wagers on Betfair, and First Division games (one echelon down) would draw even less than this.
      Roughly 98% of the bets laid with Betfair on this match were for a RoPS home win.
     
A DVD recording of the game was played and replayed in the courtroom, showing the two goals that Aleksander Mištšuk conceded.
      The first was a penalty, and the court resolved that it was not possible to draw the conclusion that the goalkeeper made no reasonable effort to save the shot.
      In the case of the goal that put RoPS 2-0 up, however, the court found that Mištšuk did not try to prevent the ball from trickling into the corner of the net. Witnesses called to interpet the events included the match observer, the match referee, and two former goalkeepers.
     
On the day after the match, Aleksander Mištšuk deposited a cash sum of EUR 1,500 in his bank account. On a monthly basis the goalkeeper had been banking EUR 600 in expenses paid by Atlantis for his services.
      He claimed the exceptional sum was left over from earlier business he had done with a company he owned that sold goalkeeping equipment to Russia, and that the deposit on that specific day was a mere coincidence.
     
Mištšuk was substituted after 49 minutes of the game against RoPS, immediately after the second goal went in.
      Atlantis rallied with two late strikes to record a 2-2 draw in the match, and hence it must be assumed that whoever it was who was alleged to have tried to influence the outcome of the game was left rather out of pocket.


Links:
  Judge for yourself the merits of the 2-0 goal on YouTube

Helsingin Sanomat