Ecuadorian Football Players Face Trial for Match-Fixing
Ecuadorian soccer players Felipe Caicedo and Jefferson Montero are part of a list of 37 players who will stand trial in Spain for allegedly fixing a match between Levante, where they both played, and Zaragoza, an event that occurred seven years ago.
Isabel Rodríguez, the judge of the 8th instruction court in Valencia, has decided to prosecute the 37 players who participated in the Levante-Zaragoza match in the 2011 season, which was allegedly fixed according to Anticorruption and the Prosecutor's Office. The case was closed in the first instance by Judge Isabel Rodríguez in 2017 and reopened by the Valencia Court of Appeals, reports As.
According to the investigations into that match, which Zaragoza won 1-2 and secured its stay in the league, Zaragoza's players received money from their president, Agapito Iglesias. Those players reimbursed the money to the club's management and the destination of those amounts was never known, although investigators suspect that it was delivered to Levante's players, reports the sports newspaper from Madrid.
In the same year, Levante's players, still according to the investigations, spent the summer of 2011 with little movement in their bank accounts, while the previous year, 2010, there were more transactions according to expert evidence.
Now, with Judge Isabel Rodríguez's decision, the following Zaragoza players will stand trial: Maurizio Lanzaro, Toni Doblas, Paulo da Silva, Jorge López, Ander Herrera, Braulio Nóbrega, Leo Ponzio, Gabi, Carlos Diogo, Ivan Obradovic, Ikechukwu Uche, Adam Pinter, Javier Paredes, Leo Franco, Jiri Jarosik, Nicolás Bertolo, Said Boutahar, Ángel Lafita, and their coach, Javier Aguirre.
From Levante, the following individuals will go to court: former goalkeeper Gustavo Munúa (former coach of Liga de Quito) and players Héctor Rodas, Rafael Jordá, Rubén Suárez, Xavi Torres, Miguel Pallardó, Christian Stuani, Wellington Alves, Jefferson Montero (now at Getafe), Miguel Robusté, Javi Venta, Manuel Reina, Felipe Caicedo (current player of Lazio), Vicente Iborra, Xisco Muñoz, Sergio Ballesteros, Juanfran García, and David Cerrajería. (D)