Azerbaijan tightens control over match-fixing

A new independent expert will operate under the Association of Football Federations of Azerbaijan (AFFA) to identify football match-fixing, AFFA Secretary General Elkhan Mammadov told Trend.

"The AFFA has an expert committee consisting of independent persons outside the football community. However, they watch matches if they receive a complaint about match-fixing. But, to date the committee did not receive any such complaints," he said.

Mammadov said the AFFA will appoint a new expert to identify match-fixing upon the UEFA recommendations. The expert will study matches and report on suspicious games to the expert committee.

"For example, if the society has extensive discussions regarding match-fixing, but an official request on this is not received, the expert himself will appeal to the commission," he said.

Regarding the recent scandalous events that occurred in the Turkish football, he said the Azerbaijani public also regrets about the events. "There are a lot of fans of the Turkish football in Azerbaijan. Each Azerbaijani fan has a favorite Turkish club, but such events disappoint the fans," Mammadov said.

He said the Turkish courts have not yet made a decision on the matter, but in any case, football clubs should be punished.


/Trend/