Romania - Albania football game denounced at FIFA

Joi, 6 decembrie 2007, 0:40 English | Top News

A few days ago, the Albanian prime minister Sali Berisha publicly declared that the football games in his country are controlled by the gambling mafia. The very next day, Culture Minister Ylli Pango directly accused the president of the Football Federation of selling two games in the qualification stage for the Euro 2008 championship: the one against Belarus (2:4 in Tirana) and against Romania (1:6 in Bucharest).

The Culture Minister also addressed a letter to the European Football Association, demanding investigations on the fairness of the two games. UEFA confirmed that such a letter was received, but made no other comments.

Romanian officials reacted to the news in a quite inappropriate manner, joking that "Weren't it for the coach to stop them, it would have been 10 to 1", as said Mircea Sandu, president of the Romanian Football Association.

A few years ago, a similar scandal took place when Dinamo Tirana lost 0:4 in front of the Romanian team Otelul Galati, counting for the Intertoto Cup. Tirana players were accused of placing huge bets on this score in Austria.