There was no evidence that a match between Real Zaragoza and Levante was the victim of collusion, said the judge.
A court in Valencia has acquitted 36 players in a big matchfixingsag in Spain.
the Case is about a football game in the Primera Division between Real Zaragoza and Levante in 2011. Zaragoza won the match 2-1, avoiding thus the relegation to the second-best Spanish variety.
the Judge at the Spanish court considered that there was no evidence that there was tampered with the result. In total, more than 40 persons acquitted.
the Trial began in september, and among the people involved in the case was the then-Zaragoza-players Ander Herrera and Gabi, as well as the football coach Javier Aguirre.
the Latter was in 2015 fired as national coach for Japan, because he was mentioned in matchfixingsagen, although Aguirre has denied that he has done something wrong.
According to the prosecutor having to Zaragoza have transferred 965.000 euros, equivalent to 7.2 million crowns for some of the club’s own players and coaches. The money was used to bribe Levante players and convince them to lose weight with will, thought the prosecutor.
In 2017, the case was closed down, but was reopened after an appeal by the public prosecution service, La Liga and Deportivo La Coruña that ended up relegated as a result of Zaragoza’s victory in 2011.
Although more than 40 persons were acquitted, was former Zaragoza president Agapito Iglesias and the club’s former cfo Javier Porquera sentenced to prison sentences of 15 months for financial fraud.
It is unlikely that they will serve the sentences, because sentences of up to two years usually are not being served by the persons convicted for the first time in the proceedings, not violence.
/ritzau/AFP
