Without proof, Textor cites manipulation in Palmeiras game

Owner of SAF do Botafogo, John Textor spoke again about the alleged manipulation of games during the Brazilian championship. Without proof, the North American cited a game played by Palm treesbut exempted the alviverde club.

John Textor spoke again about the audio he had in his possession to reveal a case of corruption in Brazilian football. The executive said that the match mentioned in the recording would be from “a smaller division”.

According to him, the audio was validated by an “employee linked to the CBF”. Textor also says that the recording was in the possession of the police and government officials. The owner of SAF do Botafogo also commented on an alleged case of manipulation in a match between Palmeiras and Fortaleza in 2022.

“People tend to talk about corruption and put players in the middle all the time because it’s easier. First, someone was paid to get a yellow card. It’s not even illegal. People find out, they apologize. At the time of that recording, which it was in the hands of the government, there was a report of match-fixing, this had also been produced, I believe it had been sent and we have already provided evidence of this to the court”, he said.

“The result manipulation report is related to a game that ended in 2022, it was a Palmeiras game. It seems that Palmeiras was not involved. It was Palmeiras x Fortaleza. This evidence was sent to the CBF, I don’t know who was involved in it , I was not involved,” said John Textor.

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Textor spoke more about the recording he had access to:

“I received a recording from an employee linked to the CBF. It was validated and authenticated. It was spoken to me, by trusted authorities, they were not journalists, nor agents. They are also in the hands of the police and were in the hands of government officials for a year. It was in a smaller division, it’s a game we know. There’s a coach, a team, people that we authenticate”, he commented.

“There’s a recording of a referee saying he was sad about losing money because the game he was trying to manipulate hadn’t gone the way he was trying to influence it. He was specific: he put 1 minute on the clock and gave a penalty that didn’t he should have and the attacker hit the penalty against the post. He complained, saying that he did everything he could. He has a Rio accent, you’ll know better than me, this allows us to identify which referee it is.”