In China - football scandal: according to foreign media reports, 30-year-old forward Victor Anichebe passed information to FIFA organization that his own club - Beijing "Enterprises" - is involved in match-fixing agreements.
The Nigerian player, who played in the English "Premier" league and wore the jerseys of teams like Liverpool's "Everton", "West Brom" and "Sunderland", complained to FIFA that even the team coach urged him twice to "not overdo it in matches", including against their biggest competitors.
V. Anichebe himself tried to clarify the situation and asked his teammates about the backstage workings, but received not a very encouraging response: "This is China - we do what we are told."
The Nigerian started discussing this situation with the club already since October last year. Failing to resolve the problem peacefully, the footballer decided to hire lawyers.
Manchester-based lawyer Chris Farnell approached the club's general director at "Enterprises", but his complaints about possible wrongdoings in the club were dismissed twice in a row and no action was taken to clarify the situation.
V. Anichebe never hesitated to step into the limelight, as last season he wanted to get as many minutes as possible in order to have the chance to represent the Nigerian national team at the 2018 World Cup. However, the footballer's desires were not fulfilled - he never received an invitation to join the national team.
The Nigerian ultimately decided that the most stringent measures needed to be taken and reported his club to FIFA. Beijing club still denies this information, but foreign media reports that such an incident is recorded in the FIFA protocol.
This is not the first time Chinese football has been involved in a match-fixing scandal. For example, in 2003 the Chinese championship title was stripped from Shanghai's "Shenhua", and also in 2013, 12 top league clubs were fined £103,000 each and 58 current and former match officials, players and referees were suspended for their involvement in match-fixing.
