Can a sport team initiate its own loss?

[Pandu Geddon]

Do you think it is possible for a team in modern football to want to initiate a loss of their own free will? I mean by their own free will, not by the will of a coach or match-fixing agents from outside.

I am sure that at this time, especially players in the big European leagues, will not do that. The coach's performance is assessed by the club's management. If it is considered not good, of course, the coach will be replaced. If the player's performance also decreases intentionally, I am worried that it is also related to the sale of several players to bring in new players.

Maybe that situation could happen. But not for the current situation. Or the possibility that the club plays in a league that is not really in the spotlight. If it is possible for such an incident to be carried out by the club at this time, is United doing it?

[acroman08]

Do you think it is possible for a team in modern football to want to initiate a loss of their own free will? I mean by their own free will, not by the will of a coach or match-fixing agents from outside.

they probably can but I'd assume they could get sanctioned or penalties if they are found out to be deliberately losing their matches. I'm sure the league or the club they are part of have rules against it so if they want to deliberately lose their matches they would need to do it discreetly.

They’re aware of it, but if there’s a strategic reason behind it that benefits the team in the future, I think it’s justifiable. As long as no one complains, it won’t be investigated, and the coach can disguise it as part of the game plan without the players knowing. After all, the coach is the captain of the game, the one who plans and sets the strategy that the team should follow.

yeah, sure but coaches couldn't make many excuses or say it is part of the plan if they kept losing. anyway, the thread says that coaches and match-fixing are out of the picture and all of the idea about deliberately losing the game/match are all on the players. so as I was saying in my previous post, they'll most likely get a penalty or sanctioned if they are found out to be deliberately losing the game/match by the club or league they are part of.

[iBaba]

Do you think it is possible for a team in modern football to want to initiate a loss of their own free will? I mean by their own free will, not by the will of a coach or match-fixing agents from outside.

I am sure that at this time, especially players in the big European leagues, will not do that. The coach's performance is assessed by the club's management. If it is considered not good, of course, the coach will be replaced. If the player's performance also decreases intentionally, I am worried that it is also related to the sale of several players to bring in new players.

Maybe that situation could happen. But not for the current situation. Or the possibility that the club plays in a league that is not really in the spotlight. If it is possible for such an incident to be carried out by the club at this time, is United doing it?

As far as I am concerned, at this juncture, it is safe to say that the Manchester United management are shooting themselves on their legs for still allowing Ten Hag to coach the club. From a distance, I was able to identify that the coach, while he may have other management skill, he lacks what I regard as the most important skill which is the management of the social quotient and the emotional intelligence of the players. He hasn't really proven to possess such skills hence causing the team to lose some of their best players at a time. I will always use the Cristiano Ronaldo unstable come back as an example. The guy is a great player of history but Ten Hag almost distablized his stay at the Manchester United even when he showed passion to work for the club and recreate the good past.

[Smartvirus]

Are you talking about Chelsea in the past? I think when José Mourinho become their manager again that time if I remember very well.

I remember the rumors very well of Chelsea team and Mourinho but, who’s better to tell what it actually was than a player whom was in on this plan and we all know what that could mean for the player’s career as well as, everyone else that could have been on this plan.

Let it be known that, football isn’t some sport you just play on the pitch and it’s ended. Investigations are done based on events observed on the field of play and into the player’s approach towards every game. If a foul play is observed, parties are always called in for questioning.

Though I would agree that these things do happen, it’s just rare and almost zero occurrences in top tier leagues.

[dezoel]

This happens if all the teams in the club do not like the coach if only 1 or 2 people do not like the coach it will not mean anything because the player can be replaced by another player by the coach if the player does not seem serious about playing football. But if all the players do not like the coach this makes sense so they can get a new coach who is better and more competent because maybe they feel that the coach is not suitable so no matter how hard you try, if the players and coach are not compatible, the club will never be able to progress.

I think it's also possible that the 1 or 2 players is/are going to poison the mind of the other players. As an innocent player, this is wrong and we must be strong to not get affected by it if we know that there is no problem with our coach because I think we will also notice or feel that on our own. We should only tell our coach about it and he will also let the higher council know about this to punish those players.

If the players of the football team did not like their coach, they can do that to make coach fired from his job. They can perform bad so coach will get the complaint from all people especially their owner. The coach job will be difficult if he can not build a good relationship with all people in that team.

That is possible to happen with all teams that disappointed with their coach. But it is better they communicate to their coach and tell what they don't like from coach and vice versa. If they can solve the matters, I am sure that the coach will not get fired and the players can start to see the chance. That will be their internal matters which will not be publish. Public can guess the real problem without knowing the truth.

Do what? To initiate or do an intentional loss? But, I think they will also be blamed for this. So this must not be the best idea. If all agrees to dislike a coach, we can just confront the coach and tell other higher people in the club to replace them.

As a coach, yeah that it is important to have a good relationship but even as a player, we need this too. Despite having it, there might still be times that we will have a misunderstanding with each other, so it is important to calm down and don't do major actions yet because you might only regret it.

Public are not psychic to identify the problem on why the team performs like that, especially if there are no possible evidences that they can see but as you said, it seems better to keep an issue like that in private because that can mostly affect the club in a negative way, no matter if which side is correct and incorrect.

[Troytech]

Intentionally lose is actually illegal, a top tier league or competition will not allow that.

But, technically it's possible, just like when we were still young, we often cooperate with our friends to lie with our teachers or parents in order to going out or something like that. As long as there's no one admit or expose if we're working together in order to intentionally lose certain match, no one will know, they can only create a conspiracy.

There hasn't been anywhere that it is written that self-loss is illegal whether in a top league or not. One thing I know is that it is an offense to the club and punishment will be made. The agreement that was made in the contract contains some irresponsible actions that are not needed in the company apart from the player's longevity in the club, and financial agreement. Some rules need to be kept as long as they remain in the club.

Any team that intentionally loses in a game will spoil its reputation. It's rare to see such in the top leagues.

[Slow death]

The question this topic is dedicated to in full looks like this: can a football team (or a team from another sport) initiate a loss or a series of losses of its own free will in order to achieve some of its goals?
In one book about sports betting, I read an interesting case about an English football team. I will not mention its name, since not everyone agrees that this is exactly how it happened. As the author of the book wrote about it. In short, the matter was that the players of the football team did not like its coach and they really wanted to change this coach. But since they did not have the legal right to do such things, they resorted to a cunning tactic. They deliberately began to lose one match after another in order to change the coach and thus ruin his reputation. Do you believe in this version of events?
The second case happened with one regional Russian team, whose funding was sharply reduced. In protest or simply because there was no point in playing better (according to some authors), this team also began to deliberately lose matches with equal teams.
Do you think this is the right explanation?
Do you think it is possible for a team in modern football to want to initiate a loss of their own free will? I mean by their own free will, not by the will of a coach or match-fixing agents from outside.

Unfortunately, this is possible. For example, in my country, the local league has many cases of players who sabotage the team when they don't like the coach, and these cases reach a serious level where when a certain group of people wants to take over the club's management, they start to conspire with the players so that they lose on purpose and thus make the club's president resign and when a new club president comes in, the team starts to play well. This has been happening in my country's national team for many years. No coach has managed to last very long in my country's national team because they are always sabotaged by the players.

[Doan9269]

I don't think so, this may not have to happen as being a common scenario, but we cant be fully assured that it does not occur at all, which makes it more of a chances that such do happens but on a rare case, except if the team had an issue with the regulatory bodies or the authority in charge and treat each others fuck up, but aside that, i think a team should work more better on their own success than downfall.

[Fortify]

The question this topic is dedicated to in full looks like this: can a football team (or a team from another sport) initiate a loss or a series of losses of its own free will in order to achieve some of its goals?
In one book about sports betting, I read an interesting case about an English football team. I will not mention its name, since not everyone agrees that this is exactly how it happened. As the author of the book wrote about it. In short, the matter was that the players of the football team did not like its coach and they really wanted to change this coach. But since they did not have the legal right to do such things, they resorted to a cunning tactic. They deliberately began to lose one match after another in order to change the coach and thus ruin his reputation. Do you believe in this version of events?
The second case happened with one regional Russian team, whose funding was sharply reduced. In protest or simply because there was no point in playing better (according to some authors), this team also began to deliberately lose matches with equal teams.
Do you think this is the right explanation?
Do you think it is possible for a team in modern football to want to initiate a loss of their own free will? I mean by their own free will, not by the will of a coach or match-fixing agents from outside.

That looks like a pretty textbook case of collusion and match rigging, which if it was ever shared publicly could result in some rather nasty fraud based criminal investigations - it doesn't feel like something that would be shared like some sort of victory. Maybe I could understand it in Russian teams that have less ethical restrictions but I'd start to wonder if one or two players are actually profiting off the losses rather than just trying to evict a coach. Even a single player could create unfavorable conditions for a team to win, but it becomes obvious at a certain point or at the very least they would be dropped for poor performance after a few terrible plays.

[Weawant]

There have been times i have heard of players conspiracy and never know how true it is actually but it turns out that I'm coming across it in this post that its very possible players would intentionally loose a game so as to get their coach sacked probably because of the kind of relationship they have got, and its mostly in football i have heard and seen such and never in games such as other sports and so i think its not always a thing that actually works it could actually be in rare cases as coaches aren't sacked only on such base.

[wheelz1200]

The question this topic is dedicated to in full looks like this: can a football team (or a team from another sport) initiate a loss or a series of losses of its own free will in order to achieve some of its goals?
In one book about sports betting, I read an interesting case about an English football team. I will not mention its name, since not everyone agrees that this is exactly how it happened. As the author of the book wrote about it. In short, the matter was that the players of the football team did not like its coach and they really wanted to change this coach. But since they did not have the legal right to do such things, they resorted to a cunning tactic. They deliberately began to lose one match after another in order to change the coach and thus ruin his reputation. Do you believe in this version of events?
The second case happened with one regional Russian team, whose funding was sharply reduced. In protest or simply because there was no point in playing better (according to some authors), this team also began to deliberately lose matches with equal teams.
Do you think this is the right explanation?
Do you think it is possible for a team in modern football to want to initiate a loss of their own free will? I mean by their own free will, not by the will of a coach or match-fixing agents from outside.

In a high profile sports that pay big money that's a pretty bold move to lose so you get a new coach or something along those lines.  You have to play terrible to lose and that puts your career in jeopardy, not to mention if you get caught doing this no team will end up picking you up knowing you will sabotage a team like that.  Maybe in the lower leagues that kind of stuff happens but I can't see it happening in the senior level leagues.

[Stable090]

The question this topic is dedicated to in full looks like this: can a football team (or a team from another sport) initiate a loss or a series of losses of its own free will in order to achieve some of its goals? In one book about sports betting, I read an interesting case about an English football team. I will not mention its name, since not everyone agrees that this is exactly how it happened. As the author of the book wrote about it. In short, the matter was that the players of the football team did not like its coach and they really wanted to change this coach.

Players do crazy things sometimes. I have also heard about things like this before. players do gang up against the coach, they will end up performing poorly in matches, so the management won’t have  choice but to sack the coach and get a replacement for him. That’s why, as a coach, you are supposed to know how to interact with the players. If a coach starts having problems with players, then that’s just the beginning of the coach’s problem. Am even trying to remember the club that I heard that something like this happened to.
 
Sometimes when some players don’t really have interest in playing for a club again, they do end up performing poorly, so that the club will be able to let them go. That’s why sometimes you see a player performing poorly when he is in a team, but immediately he changes the club, his performance will improve.

[Sandra_hakeem]

The question this topic is dedicated to in full looks like this: can a football team (or a team from another sport) initiate a loss or a series of losses of its own free will in order to achieve some of its goals?

  Enhhh... This is a weird one though, but I don't still feel a team would wanna play so bad and get relegated out of the league. Even if you'd wanna say they've got corrupt officials and administrators that get paid and then try to sweep everything under the carpet, the capacity of the team would still prevail. Whatever happens, they still have to pay top ups to every single player so they'd sluggishly play and lose.

They deliberately began to lose one match after another in order to change the coach and thus ruin his reputation. Do you believe in this version of events?

Although, without concrete proves and evidences, I can say this is possible. People have different attitudes and, moreso a life outside the Internet that we dunno.. I think if a coach has a nonchalant attitude that isn't really helping the team, they can revolt against him.

Do you think this is the right explanation?

Don't believe anything you see on the Internet.

[Jemzx00]

The question this topic is dedicated to in full looks like this: can a football team (or a team from another sport) initiate a loss or a series of losses of its own free will in order to achieve some of its goals?

This is basically retaliation from the players to their coach. Which happens not only on sports but everywhere like to an employee to it's own manager if not treated fairly. It's not right but these players has been left with no options to do these tactics to make sure that they'll be heard or make sure someone pay for their actions.
Obviously, these players will have to deal with they're actions just to make sure what they want will happen. But still, it's never right to do these tactics as they're only ruining themselves and other people as well.

[$weetne$$]

But since they did not have the legal right to do such things, they resorted to a cunning tactic. They deliberately began to lose one match after another in order to change the coach and thus ruin his reputation. Do you believe in this version of events?

I believe this to be true because I have always thought that some players intentionally play badly so that they can get their coach fired. The way top players were playing before the manager came always change. Manchester united is a club that I think the players are playing intentionally to get the coach fired because they're playing so badly right now that it seems like something is happening that we do not know. Some few games ago Bruno Fernandes got red card and it was not an offence that can not be avoided. He also missed penalty that he could have scored but throw it away. He gets red card easily and all this make me think, he is playing badly to make the manager to go because he does not like him. When players like the manager, they play very well to keep him at his job.

[AmoreJaz]

But since they did not have the legal right to do such things, they resorted to a cunning tactic. They deliberately began to lose one match after another in order to change the coach and thus ruin his reputation. Do you believe in this version of events?

I believe this to be true because I have always thought that some players intentionally play badly so that they can get their coach fired. The way top players were playing before the manager came always change. Manchester united is a club that I think the players are playing intentionally to get the coach fired because they're playing so badly right now that it seems like something is happening that we do not know. Some few games ago Bruno Fernandes got red card and it was not an offence that can not be avoided. He also missed penalty that he could have scored but throw it away. He gets red card easily and all this make me think, he is playing badly to make the manager to go because he does not like him. When players like the manager, they play very well to keep him at his job.

Such scenario is very possible to happen. If the team is in unity to achieve something, whether to throw their coach or ruin their reputation, they can. Because it is on their performance how they will do inside the field. However, such feat depends on how each team member agrees with the repercussions involve on this sacrifice. Some spectators can spot such performance, and with the current social media frenzy, it can create some viral comments/videos/discussions online. Their image will be questioned and who knows what it will do to their team? Remember, they are carrying certain brands so such agreements with their respective brands are also at stake.

[Patikno]

There have been times i have heard of players conspiracy and never know how true it is actually but it turns out that I'm coming across it in this post that its very possible players would intentionally loose a game so as to get their coach sacked probably because of the kind of relationship they have got, and its mostly in football i have heard and seen such and never in games such as other sports and so i think its not always a thing that actually works it could actually be in rare cases as coaches aren't sacked only on such base.

You often hear about it in football because you're only in the football circle, in fact, political incidents involving athletes like what @OP mentioned often happen in other sports too. Poor relationships between athletes and managers are the main reason, and this should not be allowed in any sport. Unfortunately, this kind of thing does not fall under competition manipulation.

[Hispo]

I think it is pretty possible for a team to start to underperform on purpose in order for them to show a signal of protest against their coach or the owner of the club, sure, however the situation would need to be very extreme for them to take such a decision and start to lose on purpose to catch the attention of the fans, attention from the press and even from bettors who would start to notice the losing patterns for them to pocket some money off the situation.

If this is a phenomenon which has previously happened, then it could happen again.
Another questions it would be how a tem doing such a form of protest could impact the betting markets, some bookies may take some preventive measures and not even open bets for that specific club/team anymore as long as their problems continue.

[Julien_Olynpic]

A goalkeeper can intentionally miss a goal, and other players can generally play below their abilities, but they still have to pretend to play hard. Many users have written here that when a team starts to intentionally play poorly, it can have a negative impact on the careers of the players on the team itself. This is partly true, but I still think that this is a big exaggeration. After all, for example, in order to lose a game, a goalkeeper does not need to miss a lot of goals. It is enough to miss 1-2 goals and often this is enough. I do not think that the statistics and career of the goalkeeper will suffer much from this. After all, he often misses 1-2 goals for "natural" reasons. And it can be very difficult to understand the reasons for which the goalkeeper missed goals without serious evidence.

[Smartprofit]

A goalkeeper can intentionally miss a goal, and other players can generally play below their abilities, but they still have to pretend to play hard. Many users have written here that when a team starts to intentionally play poorly, it can have a negative impact on the careers of the players on the team itself. This is partly true, but I still think that this is a big exaggeration. After all, for example, in order to lose a game, a goalkeeper does not need to miss a lot of goals. It is enough to miss 1-2 goals and often this is enough. I do not think that the statistics and career of the goalkeeper will suffer much from this. After all, he often misses 1-2 goals for "natural" reasons. And it can be very difficult to understand the reasons for which the goalkeeper missed goals without serious evidence.

I remember a TV comedy series about a football coach who beat his players after every game they lost.

https://youtu.be/-L2RnETHlT8?si=16MJJXPhVIA7-Lk9

In reality, of course, this cannot happen; a coach will not beat up athletes. However, a coach can take measures to prevent athletes from rebelling against him. Initially, a coach has a lot of authority and power, much more than all the members of a sports team. A coach who allows a situation where his players "rebel" is a very bad coach. Perhaps such people exist, of course, but it is difficult for me to imagine such a situation in practice. I would rather believe in a fixed match being organized with the complicity of a coach.