German Soccer Scandal Envelops Players | German Soccer | Deutsche Welle | — If you haven’t been following this, there is a soccer-corruption scandal brewing in Germany. The weird thing is that unlike in the USA where you’d be paid-off to throw or lose a game, in Germany they pay you off to win one!! What kind of work ethic do they have anyway? Geez.
It has been revealed that the SC Paderborn captain, Thijs Waterink, received €10,000 ($13,000) from an anonymous backer as an incentive to defeat Hamburg in the German cup tie, one of the four matches shamed referee Robert Hoyzer has since admitted to manipulating for a €70,000 purse
“I did not know before the game that the players would be receiving this bonus,” Paderborn president Wilfried Finke told the N24 television channel. “A man from southern Europe phoned team captain Waterink and said, ‘There is €10,000 as a team bonus if you win against Hamburg. If you do not, we want the money back.’
I just don’t get this. Why is it unethical to pay someone extra to do what they are already legally obligated to do. It’s like paying a waitress a big tip for a good service.
Is there anyone from Germany who could explain this to me?
Heck, I just thought of this. In the US players get paid extra by third parties all the time to win: Nike, Adidas, Converse, etc. Advertisers pay big bucks to athletes who win and will stop paying once those athletes start losing.
It’s point spread, folks, that counts with gamblers. Not just winning or losing. That’s only important to those who participate in the sport.
“More than 150 police raided 32 houses in Germany this morning as
prosecutors widened their probe into the country’s match-fixing
scandal to include three more referees, including one from the top
division, and 14 players.”
From today’s “Fiver” — Football newsletter from The Guardian.
This is absolute crap and an awful waste of precious time and taxpayers’ money if this case should be investigated to it’s logical conclusion. I think the authorities are stretching this too far and should concentrate their energies on the impending world cup.
Chrys