Do referees get bribed to cheat in a match?

[rahmad2nd]

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What do you guys have to say about this? Do you think that referees can be bribed so they can issue a red card unnecessarily to the best-forming team to to make the team lose? 

First of all, is this related to the local league in your area, or a league that is not a big event like the European Leagues. because I doubt if what we are discussing is one of the big leagues in Europe, because technology is currently developing and involved in sports. one of them is VAR, an assistant referee who can minimize a mistake or something intentional like a bribery case. or, cases like score fixing. even, if the referee cheats by siding with one of the teams that are competing. however, wherever the competition, League or whatever, things that smell of cheating have the potential to happen, even in big sporting events. but the potential will be greater in small tournaments, or Leagues that are not too well-known. where the existing regulations and systems are very weak and are often exploited by people who want profit through cheating, especially since technology is usually not as sophisticated as the big Leagues. I personally rarely witness anything that smells of cheating in modern football, amidst the involvement of technology in it. although there are often things that smell of controversy, indications that are close to cheating are rare. Regarding your question, I cannot confirm it. Because, I cannot research it if there is no source or reference to base it on.

[Mr. Magkaisa]

So guys, I wanted to get your opinion again in this thread. The thread is concerned with only members that are really experienced in sports events and are mostly lovers of football. 

Actually, the question I asked in my title has nothing to do with any matches that I have watched recently, but it's related to some previous matches that I have watched for a very long time.

So, have you guys watched a match where the referee is blowing a whistle to issue a red or yellow card at the wrong time? Even if what happened is not really something that requires a red or yellow card, but the referee just blows the whistle and gives a red or yellow card according to the situation he feels deserves it? In some of the previous matches I watched, I felt the referee was just unnecessarily issuing red and yellow cards repeatedly to the best-forming team, and I believe he was doing it to make the team lose the match. 

What do you guys have to say about this? Do you think that referees can be bribed so they can issue a red card unnecessarily to the best-forming team to to make the team lose? 

           -     Maybe there are some referees who are bribed if the two boxing fighters he handles are really heavyweights in the boxing industry. And probably the two sides talk to the referee and offer a sum of money, and whoever makes the big offer is always on their side.

But this is rare among referees because most referees still have the principle that money or value is not paid, no matter how high or big it is.

[Marykeller]

What I know a referee can do in a match, is to influence the result of a match to a draw or win for a team he likes. Although that's in the past, it is no longer in the present. Since the introduction of VAR, only the referee can't influence the outcome of a match. There are VAR monitors to do that, for match outcomes. Where the referee can decide match outcomes is where there is no VAR usage. The referee can go ahead to decide how he wants the outcome of the match to be. Whether he's bribed for that or not, nobody can tell. I have seen in some local matches where a referee blows against the away team for the home team to win the finals of a league match.

[YOSHIE]

What do you guys have to say about this? Do you think that referees can be bribed so they can issue a red card unnecessarily to the best-forming team to to make the team lose? 

Bribery cases in the world of football have not only happened this time, they have been happening for years in various leagues, for this reason FIFA does not hesitate to take action against referees involved in bribery, with heavy sanctions attached.

As was the case with Felix Zwayer in the 2024 Euro, England vs. Dutch.
Whistle blowing. UEFA appoint ref for Eng-Ned semi who was banned for taking a bribe.

And another case occurred in 2020 at the Euros, when a penalty in the match between England vs. Denmark, as reported.
For example:

controversial. Although the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) indicated that the initial penalty decision appeared inappropriate, the referee ultimately decided to uphold the decision.

And many other cases regarding the involvement of referee bribes in various world football leagues, it is indicated that the referee can backfire on the team's defeats and wins on the basis of the referee cheating because of bribes.

[GxSTxV]

I am a big fan of my local team in our region, and I used to follow most of their matches when I was younger. 12 years ago, our team was in the Mobilis First League. Regarding your topic about referees being bribed, I once witnessed an exceptionally and unfair game for us where the referee offered three unfair and imaginary penalties to the opposing team as you can see in this resume. Despite this, our team managed to win 4-3.

I found the summary of the entire match, and also another video that includes a legendary moment where our players applauded to the referee, knowing that he had been bribed.

The summary video for the goals: YouTube

The applauding video : YouTube

[South Park]

So guys, I wanted to get your opinion again in this thread. The thread is concerned with only members that are really experienced in sports events and are mostly lovers of football. 

Actually, the question I asked in my title has nothing to do with any matches that I have watched recently, but it's related to some previous matches that I have watched for a very long time.

So, have you guys watched a match where the referee is blowing a whistle to issue a red or yellow card at the wrong time? Even if what happened is not really something that requires a red or yellow card, but the referee just blows the whistle and gives a red or yellow card according to the situation he feels deserves it? In some of the previous matches I watched, I felt the referee was just unnecessarily issuing red and yellow cards repeatedly to the best-forming team, and I believe he was doing it to make the team lose the match. 

What do you guys have to say about this? Do you think that referees can be bribed so they can issue a red card unnecessarily to the best-forming team to to make the team lose? 

Of course they can be bribed, a massive amount of money is moving each day on casinos and referees are humans like everyone else, so they may have a family crisis and need the money urgently or they may be threatened by members of the mafia to do their bidding, in any case we know this is a possibility and there have been many scandals on the past demonstrating this has in fact happened, so not only it happens, I am sure that even coaches and players are in it sometimes.

[betswift]

I am a big fan of my local team in our region, and I used to follow most of their matches when I was younger. 12 years ago, our team was in the Mobilis First League. Regarding your topic about referees being bribed, I once witnessed an exceptionally and unfair game for us where the referee offered three unfair and imaginary penalties to the opposing team as you can see in this resume. Despite this, our team managed to win 4-3.

I found the summary of the entire match, and also another video that includes a legendary moment where our players applauded to the referee, knowing that he had been bribed.

The summary video for the goals: YouTube

The applauding video : YouTube

That's just beautiful. Thanks for sharing your little story about it!

[Sandra_hakeem]

I am a big fan of my local team in our region, and I used to follow most of their matches when I was younger. 12 years ago, our team was in the Mobilis First League. Regarding your topic about referees being bribed, I once witnessed an exceptionally and unfair game for us where the referee offered three unfair and imaginary penalties to the opposing team as you can see in this resume. Despite this, our team managed to win 4-3.

Yeahhh.... About this? Its actually a different case! Those were unprofessional/ state leauges and we all know that nothing serious is happening; no serious title matches/ competitions, no licensing for bigger leagues, corrupt officials etc...whatever happens, the admin of the two teams have made an agreement and players are only instructed on how and what not to play.

If, after the rigged game, your team was still able to defeat against them, they're actually good!

Bribery cases in the world of football have not only happened this time, they have been happening for years in various leagues, for this reason FIFA does not hesitate to take action against referees involved in bribery, with heavy sanctions attached.

That's mind blowing... With the sanctions and punishment that awaits anyone found guilty of any misconduct, why should anyone wanna risk himself and his position for come cash? Yeahh, I understand the fact that it could be a huge one atimes though, is it worth the punishment?

[Rockstarguy]

What do you guys have to say about this? Do you think that referees can be bribed so they can issue a red card unnecessarily to the best-forming team to to make the team lose? 

I'm not sure if referees are being bribe to support a team, and I'm not sure if teams have knowledge of which referee will be use in a particular march that will be taking place. Since I have been watching football, some of the games I have watched before now I noticed that some referee are kind of sentimental in their judgement maybe because of the love they have for a particular team, it something so difficult for them to hide.

I don't think any referee will be allowed himself to take bribe to support a team because if it is found out I don't think the referee will be allowed to continue with his job.

[MainIbem]

So guys, I wanted to get your opinion again in this thread. The thread is concerned with only members that are really experienced in sports events and are mostly lovers of football.

Actually, the question I asked in my title has nothing to do with any matches that I have watched recently, but it's related to some previous matches that I have watched for a very long time.

So, have you guys watched a match where the referee is blowing a whistle to issue a red or yellow card at the wrong time? Even if what happened is not really something that requires a red or yellow card, but the referee just blows the whistle and gives a red or yellow card according to the situation he feels deserves it? In some of the previous matches I watched, I felt the referee was just unnecessarily issuing red and yellow cards repeatedly to the best-forming team, and I believe he was doing it to make the team lose the match.

What do you guys have to say about this? Do you think that referees can be bribed so they can issue a red card unnecessarily to the best-forming team to to make the team lose?

Of course they can be bribed, a massive amount of money is moving each day on casinos and referees are humans like everyone else, so they may have a family crisis and need the money urgently or they may be threatened by members of the mafia to do their bidding, in any case we know this is a possibility and there have been many scandals on the past demonstrating this has in fact happened, so not only it happens, I am sure that even coaches and players are in it sometimes.

I'm a football lover and I follow up the EPL and several other top leagues during the weekends, I've seen situations where some referees make some wrong calls that would make fans of the affected teams wonder if the referee was brided by the opposition team, I've thought about that as well like sometimes when my team loses due to a wrong call by a referee but I don't have any evidence to back it up, what I think is that as humans it's normal for a referee to make wrong calls since they're not perfectly free from errors and it's also normal for fans to get emotional and develop certain thoughts when situations like that leads to them losing their bet or their teams losing a match. Well, I'm pretty sure that several referee got various teams they support and most of them are childhood supporters of various club and could favor their teams if they're allowed to officiate for them but I think their are certain rules that disallows that and to make sure those rules are followed as directed, in the EPL several referees have been asked to mention the teams they support. Maybe the OP might be right but I don't have any evidence to back the claims of referee taking bribes, I'm not very sure of bribery though but the only thing I could find while I was trying to research for some evidence is the link below that says Sir Alex Ferguson admitted that he tried to influence some referees with mind games during some matches.

https://www.goal.com/en-ng/news/alex-ferguson-admits-trying-to-influence-referees-during/blta2e3375b191e5310

[Hispo]

If there are crime organization out there which are perfectly okey with bribing an entire team for them to under perform and pocket a lot of money, then I don't see crazy or out place having a crime organization doing exactly the same but only taking care of the referee, benefitting a specific team.
I have no specific case to point out to, but I don't have doubts of it happening, specially in developing countries and in small leagues, where referees have little to lose if caught (compared to some referee working for the biggest and highest leagues of football).
Just another reason to stick to the highest leagues with international weight, when comes to sport betting...

...

That is an incredible moment in the story of that team.
Thanks for sharing, quite remarkable they managed to win having the referee against them.

[dothebeats]

Everything can be done with the right price, although if that's the case, I don't think a referee in football would want to get involved at all given that this will affect his career and future employment. The football managers and players are already doing this stuff and I don't think a referee needs to be involved. It will be too obvious if referees get involved in cheating thus, it is smart to let the players and the org owners do their dirty work instead.

While referees make wrong calls on some games, it is not enough reason to infer that they are working with the a team to get a win. Wrong calls happen on every sport available, so it's unfair to say that a referee helped on cheating in a match just because he/she made the wrong judgment in the heat of it all. Besides, if a report is submitted, it will still go under investigation.

Though the chances of this happening is pretty low, there are still notable examples of referees working with teams on match fixing, namely the Calciopoli.

[Akbarkoe]

This is an interesting topic, for those who follow football very keenly. I have seen many matches in which decisions by the officials looked extremely controversial, if not unfair. There were moments when either a red card or yellow card was shown at what seemed like the wrong time, and this would be one of the determining factors that heavily influenced the game.

As far as the matter of bribing the referees goes, this has always been a highly sensitive issue in the world of sport. While direct evidence is hard to come by, we cannot rule out the possibility of external influences on refereeing decisions. An odd and inconsistent call may sometimes make us wonder if there are other interests playing behind it.

However, we must also remember that referees are only human and can err. Perhaps the pressure out there on the pitch or a limited perspective can guide them into getting it wrong, even without any ill intentions.

[Docnaster]

Growing up in my locality where football is loved by all, there are so many things I used to think was normal until I learnt about their illegality and bribing if referees was one of them. Whenever teams from my own town engages teams from other nearby towns in any football competitions, you'll see match officials bidding for a "highest bidder takes it all". Which means that the team that pays better gets the favour of the referee during games so it happens in local competition that doesn't enjoy the visibility of live television.

However, in professional and globally known football competitions where live games are televised, bribing referees are reduced to the barest minimum because even after bribing referees, you might end up not getting decision come your way at the end of the day.

[aioc]

Their control of the game is very minimal when it comes to game fixing. If you are going to bribe a referee to fix the game, you might as well bribe both teams or the fighters because the referee cannot do it alone, and his actions will become obvious.

You know it takes two to tango the referee cannot do it alone both teams and fighters must cooperate to get the desired results, and no referee will take a bribe if he is the only one doing it, his action will be too evident and he might get thrown out or his license suspended and people will hate him

[JunaidAzizi]

Yeah, it can happen at any time, but the thing is that there are many cameras monitoring the referee as well as other activities on the grounds. In this case, it would be very hard to convince any referee to accept a bribe during a match because if he makes a decision, there will be a third party who will also examine his decision. If he is found guilty, he may face some serious action and my be he will loss his job.

I love watching matches and also enjoy playing on the field, but until now, I haven't seen any cases like that. Yes, in cricket, there have been many cases involving umpires and players, but it happens everywhere. In football, if your opponent is strong, you might definitely bribe a referee to win the match, and this would be the only way.

[virasog]

So, have you guys watched a match where the referee is blowing a whistle to issue a red or yellow card at the wrong time? Even if what happened is not really something that requires a red or yellow card, but the referee just blows the whistle and gives a red or yellow card according to the situation he feels deserves it? In some of the previous matches I watched, I felt the referee was just unnecessarily issuing red and yellow cards repeatedly to the best-forming team, and I believe he was doing it to make the team lose the match. 

What do you guys have to say about this? Do you think that referees can be bribed so they can issue a red card unnecessarily to the best-forming team to to make the team lose? 

Do you have any references to past matches where you find such incidents and later they were highlighted by the media? If you can share such incidents it will give us more insights about such scenarios as right now most of the people here believe that referee are honest and it is not possible to bribe them.

Some who are close to their retirement or who don't care about their reputation may risk this bad act for money but the majority will simply ignore the offers.

[Churchillvv]

Basically it's very much possible but we can't determine how much it's been done but fact remains that yes referees do take bribe for teams which are probably going to win, lose the game.

Once the amount is so convincing for the referee he /she will consider the offer even though they are been governed in an association where they will probably get fired if noticed for any reason. I believe this usually happens in the everyday match even in the prominent leagues that we feel it doesn't happen but if we watch very well we might see traces to our suspicions.

[AliMan]

So guys, I wanted to get your opinion again in this thread. The thread is concerned with only members that are really experienced in sports events and are mostly lovers of football. 

Actually, the question I asked in my title has nothing to do with any matches that I have watched recently, but it's related to some previous matches that I have watched for a very long time.

So, have you guys watched a match where the referee is blowing a whistle to issue a red or yellow card at the wrong time? Even if what happened is not really something that requires a red or yellow card, but the referee just blows the whistle and gives a red or yellow card according to the situation he feels deserves it? In some of the previous matches I watched, I felt the referee was just unnecessarily issuing red and yellow cards repeatedly to the best-forming team, and I believe he was doing it to make the team lose the match. 

What do you guys have to say about this? Do you think that referees can be bribed so they can issue a red card unnecessarily to the best-forming team to to make the team lose? 

This sounds to be unfair if there's a bribery happening in the midst of the match, well performing team doesn't deserve to be treated like this being issued a red card. Each team should be vigilant on this idea of bribed referee, because that's always possible to happen and I bet everybody doesn't wanted that to happen. Professional referee won't do that kind of dirty games, and to those smart team I believed red cards should be issued to erroneous players that needs to be sanctioned.

[Juse14]

Bribery, of course, clearly leads to match-fixing. If in reality, the referees are influenced to make those unfair calls and give red or yellow cards unfairly, it not only undermines the integrity of the game but also disadvantages the team that is doing well. This is very worrying because it undermines our belief in fairness in sport. The whole idea of football is that it's a fair competition, if there is bribery involved, then we have lost the essence of what sport is supposed to be about

Moreover, this sort of cheating has the potential to not only impact one game but the whole competition or league whereby its played. If fans, players and coaches have in mind that there is a possibility for referees to manipulate a sideline as opposed to trusting their skills, talents and efforts then respect towards sport diminish. Consequently sponsors alongside fans lose interest which harms all parties at the end.