Match-fixer denies predicting Cameroon result

The convicted match-fixer at the centre of the allegations surrounding the World Cup game between Cameroon and Croatia has denied any involvement in predicting results.

German magazine Der Spiegel claimed Wilson Raj Perumal correctly forecast the result of the Group A game.


Perumal said he had made an "an informal assessment of the behaviour of the Cameroon team" after the game.


Der Spiegel insists his comments were made before the kick-off.


Der Spiegel told the BBC: "We firmly stand by our assertion that Mr Perumal wrote in a Facebook chat some hours before the World Cup match Croatia v Cameroon, that the result of the match will be a 4-0-victory for Croatia and that a player of Cameroon will get a red card in the first half."


Perumal, from Singapore, who was jailed in Finland in 2011 for fixing games, disputes the timing of the conversation and apologised to the Cameroon Football Federation for any inadvertent offence caused.


He said: "The Facebook chat with the Der Spiegel journalist took place a few days after the match. At no time did I suggest I had any way of corroborating or substantiating what was meant to be an educated guess based on my extensive match-fixing experience."

Cameroon lost all their Group A games, including the 4-0 defeat by Croatia in which their midfielder Alex Song was sent off in the 40th minute.


The International Centre for Sport Security (ICSS), who work with betting regulators, operators and monitoring agencies to look at sport integrity, revealed there was "no observable suspicious betting on this match".


ICSS director Chris Eaton said that since his arrest in 2011, Perumal has "gradually been giving accurate information on global match-fixing. He has also given a great deal of disinformation".


But he said that the seriousness of the case meant it should receive "a swift, strong and, most importantly, an international and co-ordinated investigation".


The allegations of "fraud" by "seven bad apples" are being investigated by the ethics committee of the Cameroon Football Federation.


World governing body Fifa did not comment on whether it was looking into the issue as football's world governing body did not want to "compromise any possible investigations".