African football is under the spotlight, unfortunately for the wrong reasons. A case of match fixing has brought Togolese football to its knees.
During the last African Cup of Nations in Angola in 2010, the whole of Togo was shocked by the news of an attack on the bus carrying the national team, The Hawks. Three members of the team were killed in the attack.
For security reasons, the Togolese government asked the national team to leave the competition. Following this withdrawal, the Confederation of African Football (CAF) suspended the team from all competitions for four years. The suspension was eventually lifted. But once again Togolese football in is trouble because of a strange case of match fixing.
Does it sound normal that The Hawks, the dreaded Togolese national team, loses 0-7 against Morocco, 0-5 against Egypt and 0-3 against the modest national team of Bahrain in the Middle East?
Unbelievable defeats. But there is a simple reason for this: for some time now, a fake Togo national team has been playing instead. Scam or joke? One way or another, one thing is certain, the case has cast doubts in the world of football.
It is known for some time that Togo does not have a football federation. In its place, there is a so-called Interim Committee. And to everyone's surprise last month, including the Interim Committee, the national coach brought a fake Togo team to compete in the Olympics where they suffered some serious losses.
The sports minister was asked to investigate and the coach was fined. A few weeks after that, the same fake team played in Bahrain where they lost by 3 goals to nil.
"Do not be fooled, because for a FIFA game to happen in good and due form, it takes the involvement of the two federations. It is not unlikely some members of the Interim Committee have been corrupted." says Jean-David Reinhardt, editor in chief of the Togo Football news website.
There has been a request by the Togolese government for an investigation to be conducted to find the culprits of this "fraud." These fixed games have benefited many with some important sums of money.
"The money cashed by players of the fake Hawks vary from one player to another, between 1000 and 1500 dollars per match. Members of the technical staff earn most of the time the double or even up to ten times more." says Jean-David Reinhardt.
Skepticism about the success of this investigation remains, because of corruption and impunity which reigns in the country. The consequences for Togo, however, are important. The Hawks just lost precious points in world FIFA rankings due to these lost games and many Togolese are probably feeling quite ashamed.
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