The Spanish Football League (LFP) announced it will report last year's La Liga match between Espanyol and Osasuna on May 11, which ended in a draw, for "alleged match-fixing," according to Juan Jiménez of AS. The LFP's decision to "proceed legally is based on two indicators." First, the investigation against Osasuna after an audit uncovered an unaccredited €2.4M on the club's books, and secondly, a betting pattern where some €250,000 "was placed on the game and in which players from both teams have been implicated" (
AS, 2/18). In Madrid, Sergio Fernández reported the LFP's investigation "also includes several other parties, the most relevant of which" is Spanish second division side Real Betis. This is "not extraordinary: the usual when monitoring suspicious games is paying special attention to those with nothing to gain and nothing to lose." This is the case with Espanyol and Betis. Specifically, "the lines of the investigation point to a game when Betis beat Valladolid 4-3 on the second-to-last matchday of the season -- the same day as the controversial Espanyol-Osasuna game" (
MARCA, 2/18). AS reported two Real Betis players, Antonio Amaya and Jordi Figueras, were each reportedly offered €250,000 by Osasuna board members to ensure that Betis beat Valladolid at the end of the '13-14 season. The players were also reportedly told that "there would be more where that came from if Betis rolled over for Osasuna in the final game of the season." Former Osasuna Dir Angel Vizcay admitted that he had made a "taped confession" at the offices of the LFP but he "did not expand on this." Vizcay: "These are matters that were discussed there [at the LFP] and I would prefer not to comment" (
AS, 2/18).
