On Monday, Brazil’s sports justice system handed down its first sentences to two former players in connection with a match-fixing scheme that has rocked the country’s soccer. Marcos Vinicius Alves Barreira, known as Romário, a former player of the club Vila Nova de Goiás, received the penalty of “elimination” and a fine of 25,000 reais (about US$5,000). Gabriel Domingos, also a former player of the same club, was suspended for 720 days and fined 15,000 reais (approximately US$3,000). These sentences are the first issued by the Superior Court of Sports Justice (STJD) as part of Operation Maximum Penalty, led by the Public Prosecutor’s Office of Goiás, which is investigating the match-fixing scandal.
Both players were already sidelined by the club and from professional soccer as their contracts were terminated. Romário’s defense plans to appeal the first-instance decision. Alerts about the case were raised in November, when the president of the Vila Nova club, Hugo Jorge Bravo, denounced to the prosecutor’s office that three second division matches had been manipulated and that Romário was involved.
According to Bravo’s statement, Romário reneged on an agreement with gamblers to commit a penalty in a match against Sport Recife in exchange for a sum of approximately US$30,000. Although the player received an advance of US$2,000, he was not called for the match, which led the gamblers to pressure him to compensate them. Romário then sought out other players to participate in the arrangement and became an intermediary.
In the case of Gabriel Domingos, investigators concluded that he was also involved in the fixing scheme. The Goiás prosecutor’s office estimates that at least 15 matches were rigged, eight of them in last year’s first division. So far, approximately 25 people, including 15 soccer players and 10 bettors or financial backers, have been charged in connection with the scandal.
These convictions mark a milestone in the fight against match-fixing in Brazil and reinforce the importance of maintaining integrity and transparency in sport. It is expected that investigations will continue and that additional measures will be taken to prevent and punish this type of illegal practice, thus safeguarding the credibility and honesty of Brazilian soccer.