© EuroFootball.com
"Daugavpils, removed from the Baltic Football League for unfair behavior, was strongly condemned by the presidents of all three Baltic football federations.
"Of course, this is not good publicity, but we would have deceived ourselves if the decision were different," said the General Secretary of the Latvian Football Association, Janis Mežeckis. "It was clear to everyone that 'Dinaburg' did not play fairly."
"We had suspicions about them before, but they will be punished only for the first time," J. Mežeckis said.
The decision was also supported by the Executive Director of the Baltic Football League, Aivaras Pohlakas.
"I don't know what legal evidence they have, but based on the information gathered, I can confidently say that the fight was not fair," said A. Pohlakas. "Both the match delegate and the chief referee agreed that 'Dinaburg' did not play fairly."
The President of the Lithuanian Football Federation, Liutauras Varanavičius, expressed a similar opinion.
"The committee made this decision based on serious evidence," said the federation president. "I hope that the Latvian Football Federation will also punish the club. However, this incident is actively being investigated by the Latvian and Estonian football federations, and our role in this case is more passive."
The betting company "Triobet," which helped uncover the culprits, confirmed that suspicious bets were received before the match.
"We received strange bets from Latvia just before the match, and the winners immediately wanted to withdraw the money after the match," said Anre Vooremaa, the head of the Estonian branch.
"I am most surprised that the club tried to profit in such a way with such small amounts. It's unbelievable risk! I believe that other teams in this league are more professional," he said.
Immediately after the match, which ended 2-0, suspicions arose in the Latvian and Estonian media that the outcome may have been determined before the match. According to unconfirmed data, some players from the Latvian club placed bets on their loss by a large margin, so at the end of the match, the 'Trans' players simply dominated the opponents' penalty area.
The goals were scored right at the end of the match - in the 89th minute, Anton Paitsevas scored with a penalty kick, and bizarrely, in the second minute of added time, a strange goal was scored into the 'Dinaburg' goal - the goalkeeper poorly kicked the ball from his own goal, and Sergėjus Popovas entered the penalty area and shot directly into the far corner, while at the same time one of the 'Dinaburg' defenders tied his shoelaces."
