On January 28, the Bolivian Football Federation (FBF) announced that players Ricardo Suárez, Oscar Ribera, Luis Ruono, Samuel Pozo, and Brian López from Real Santa Cruz, along with club officials, must submit a report to the federation by February 10. Those who fail to comply could face penalties for not cooperating.
The investigation focuses on three matches played in December 2024 that have raised eyebrows due to unusual betting activity. Real Santa Cruz lost each of these matches by an aggregate score of 10-3, resulting in the team's relegation from Bolivia's top division when the season concluded on December 22, 2024. The South American Football Confederation (Conmebol) flagged these games after its monitoring system detected irregularities in the betting markets.
The ethics committee of the FBF has stated that it will sanction any actions deemed harmful to the reputation and integrity of Bolivian football.
This newest investigation contributes to ongoing concerns regarding match-fixing in Bolivia. In 2023, the FBF suspended the domestic top-flight season and the Copa de la División Profesional amid allegations of manipulation and corruption. While the suspension was eventually lifted, it followed an agreement with Conmebol to enhance monitoring practices, revealing further misconduct.
Financial instability is seemingly exacerbating the issue of match-fixing in Bolivian football. A November 2024 article by the International Federation of Professional Footballers (FIFPRO) revealed that 13 out of 16 top-flight clubs were behind in paying player wages, some for as long as 18 months. This situation arose just weeks before the players from Real Santa Cruz were implicated in alleged offenses.
The challenges facing Bolivian football are mirrored in neighboring Brazil, where recent match-fixing scandals have occurred. Felippe Marchetti, integrity partnership manager at Sportradar, noted that poor financial conditions at clubs create favorable circumstances for match-fixing and corruption. “Economic instability at clubs and leagues and its resultant impact on the salaries and well-being of players, coaches, officials and even club executives can make them more susceptible to match-fixing approaches by organized crime groups and other opportunists as a means of making up for lost revenue,” Marchetti stated in August 2024.
The threat of match-fixing in Bolivia is not confined to football. Tennis has also been affected, with significant scandals leading to severe sanctions. In May 2023, the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) banned Bolivian chair umpire Heriberto Morales Churata for six years due to multiple corruption charges, including score manipulation for betting. Two months later, Bolivian tennis official Percy Flores received a 12-year ban from the ITIA for 31 violations of the Tennis Anti-Corruption Programme between November 2021 and October 2022.
