Ligue 2 Match-Fixing Suspicions: President of Professional Football League Reacts with Firmness and Sanctions Envisaged

In front of the press, the president of the Professional Football League, Frédéric Thiriez, reacted to suspicions of match-fixing in Ligue 2, at the heart of which seems to be Nîmes Olympique. “If so, it’s extremely serious.“, he said, considering sanctions.

The Professional Football League (LFP), through its president Frédéric Thiriez, was quick to react to the series of searches and arrests which shook Ligue 2 on Tuesday. Nîmes Olympique is suspected of having took advantage of fixed matches to obtain its maintenance, at the end of the 2013/2014 season.

Penalties envisaged

“If the suspicions are proven, it is extremely serious“, declared Frédéric Thiriez during a statement to the press, many of whom came to hear his reaction. While recalling the presumption of innocence (“suspicion is poison“), the president of the LFP displayed an attitude of firmness, promising sanctions, individual, collective and which could go as far as radiation, if the facts turned out to be correct.

Between severity and disbelief

For his part, Jean-Pierre Louvel, leader of Le Havre and president of the Union of Presidents of Professional Football Clubs, called for caution as long as the investigation is ongoing.
With our colleagues from France InfoJean-Pierre Louvel said “can’t believe” to a trick, in particular of the match having opposed Dijon to Nîmes on April 25, 2014 (Editor’s note: the president of Nîmes Olympique and the coach of Dijon are in police custody), Dijon having largely won that day 5 goals to 1. However, if the facts were proven, Jean-Pierre Louvel, who also sits on the board of directors of the LFP, would call for “the greatest severity”, aware that the image of football is at stake in this file. .

A dozen people were arrested on Tuesday morning and searches were carried out in various French Ligue 2 clubs. The story in pictures by Alexandre Grellier.