Czech football rocked by "biggest scandal ever"

What commentators are calling the biggest scandal ever in the history of Czech football has been unfolding across the front pages over the last week, with a club official and two referees arrested on charges of bribery.

Czech football rocked by "biggest scandal ever"

Jaroslav Hastik, photo: CTK

In the early hours of Saturday morning the director of Synot football club, Jaroslav Hastik, and an assistant referee called Stanislav Hruska were arrested at a motorway petrol station; police accused Hastik of bribing Hruska 175,000 crowns after Synot beat Sparta Prague 2:0 back in March.

As both men pleaded their innocence, the match-fixing affair took another twist, when referee Vaclav Zejda was arrested on Tuesday. He is charged with taking 120,000 crowns from Synot after officiating in their 3:1 win over Blsany last November.

Stanislav Hruska, photo: CTK

But how surprising will this news be to people involved in Czech football, where allegations of corruption are far from rare? I asked sports reporter Tomas Kohout if he believed Czech football was really rife with bribery.

"I guess that it's the same as in all the Czech Republic, because there is corruption and bribery in the Czech Republic, so why not in football? I think there is corruption from the lowest level of Czech football, from the third division in regional football there is also corruption.

"For example you can talk with players from these divisions and they say 'OK, we had to win so we bought out opponent a barrel of beer, and we won 3:0, and nobody knows and it's fine'. I guess when there is corruption at the lowest level, why not at the highest level."

On Tuesday Jaroslav Hastik resigned as director of Synot, though it looks like the bad news is going to continue for fans of Czech football, with police saying more arrests are very likely. They say they have strong evidence that bribery took place, evidently in the form of tapped mobile phone conversations between Hastik and the two officials.

Vaclav Zejda, photo: CTK

As for why the Synot director might have paid the bribes, reports say there are two possible explanations: the first is that Synot wanted to earn more points and improve their league position; the second suggestion is that the alleged match-fixing was connected with a betting agency owned by the club. The Czech Republic is unusual in this respect: in most European countries clubs are barred from owning betting offices.

So, what now? Both referees have been suspended while the police investigation continues, and there has been some suggestion the entire Czech refereeing commission could be sacked. As for the future of Synot, Czech football association chief Jan Obst has said if the charges are proved the FA is prepared to take the ultimate step and kick the club out of the First Division.