The chairman of the Football Association of the Czech Republic, Martin Malík, admitted that he also considered resigning himself due to the corruption scandal, which held the position of vice-chairman of the association, Roman Berbr, and the head of referees, Jozef Chovanec.
In the end, however, he decided to stay on the grounds that there was no time for politicking at the time the water came into the boat.
In recent days, Czech football has been shaken by the case of influencing the results of lower competitions. The police accused a total of twenty people, including the controversial Berber, and according to the media, Roman Rogoz, the sports director of the second-league Vyšehrad, referee Tomáš Grimm and former first-league player Michal Káník, also ended up in custody.
For this reason, the FACR Executive Committee convened an extraordinary meeting today, after which Berbr, through a lawyer, informed about his resignation from all positions. In addition, the Inmate was recalled, through whom Rogoz allegedly influenced the delegation of judges to the matches of Vyšehrad. The accused judges were also removed from the documents.
“We need to regain the trust of fans and partners. We need to put in place measures to prevent similar situations,” Malík said at today’s press video conference. “All of us who work in football have committed this situation. Whether by mistake or comfort, so that we do not burn our fingers, or because of a lack of our own strength,” said Malík.
“If Czech football is to win, we must come together, talk constructively together and come up with solutions. Only then let’s deal with ourselves, only then let’s deal with politics and our mutual relations. It is easy to be a general after a battle,” Malík added.
Due to the affair, he considered resigning himself. “It was one of the variants that I have been dealing with in recent days, and it would be strange if it were not so,” said Malík. “On the other hand, at the moment, there is no room for us, instead of taking the steps necessary to stop the water supply, to politicize and decide who will sit in which chair,” he said.
“I feel that this situation, although not likely to be short-lived, occurred during my term. I think it would be cowardly to say, ‘We’re leaving.’ We should be the ones to take steps to restore confidence. in Czech football and who will deny it, “he added.
Malík believes that the association has already partially started the cleansing process, for example by recruiting new referees, who signed up in 1275. He also plans to meet with state officials and discuss the creation of a special police department to deal with the issue of influencing results.
“Following the example of other UEFA members, where similar units already operate, we are ready to provide the police with the maximum degree of cooperation, not only at the national level, but also at the global and European level through FIFA and UEFA,” said Malík. “I was also commissioned to provide comprehensive supervision in the field of matchfixing through specialized professional entities,” he added.
According to some reports, the international betting mafia could also be behind the corruption scandal. “The football association has no single incentive to join the betting cartel in this matter. And we were not informed of such a thing from abroad either,” Malík said.
He has also dealt with the affair with UEFA officials. “I personally contacted UEFA in person on Friday afternoon and informed about what is happening in the Czech Republic. Of course, we are in close contact with UEFA regarding the proposed solutions,” said Malík.
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