Benfica is flying high in confidence, thanks to their ongoing successful campaign, but an allegation of match-fixing has left them sweating in fear of facing severe consequences including a possible European suspension.
The remarkable performance of the Portuguese frontrunners in the current UEFA Champions League, where they topped their group above Paris Saint-Germain and sent Juventus to the Europa League with a knockout punch, astonished a large number of fans and pundits.
🇵🇹 Benfica are on fire this season:
👏🏻 Unbeaten so far – 19 wins, 3 draws
⚽️ 45 goals scored, 12 conceded
🔥 Top of Champions League group ahead of PSG and Juventus pic.twitter.com/tehBaJ8AHT— SPORTbible (@sportbible) November 3, 2022
When reporting, Benfica are six points clear of Braga while establishing themselves top of the point chart with the rise of World Cup winner Enzo Fernandez and upcoming hot pie Goncalo Ramos only helping them in their cause.
However, the ocean is not always smooth when you are destined to sail a thousand miles, and that may be applicable once again in Benfica’s case as at least several leaked emails have piled to their woes, which is bad news for the vice president of the club, former Portuguese and AC Milan icon Rui Costa.
Benfica was accused of a minimum of two match-fixing incidents that occurred between 2016 and 2020, in which they reportedly took advantage of the situation they were in and manipulated the outcome in favor of the jugglers.
🚨 Benfica are under investigation for MATCH-FIXING related to the period between 2016-2020.
Rui Costa, the club's president is one of the individuals involved.
(Source: @MailSport) pic.twitter.com/MhjO353Y02
— Transfer News Live (@DeadlineDayLive) January 8, 2023
Benfica released a club statement last week where they admitted the ongoing situation and said, “Taking into account the news made public today, Sport Lisboa e Benfica – Futebol SAD confirms that it appeared in court on January 3, as well as, among others, the members of the Board of Directors from 2016 to 2020 and who are currently in office.”
Benfica was also charged with paying 2 million to referee Bruno Paixao from their sponsor ‘Best for Business’ in order to influence outcomes in their favor.
Former midfield star at the Luz, Rui Costa, has been elected Benfica's new president with over 87% of the votes, taking over from LuĂs Filipe Vieira. pic.twitter.com/A8q2qoZq1x
— footballportugal (@footballport) October 9, 2021
However, the problem is not new to Benfica as they have a long history of corruption. Rui Costa took over as vice president in 2020 after the scandalous departure of Luis Felipe Vieira, who was dismissed due to a number of violations of conduct in 2018, including tax fraud and money laundering, that further forced him to leave while getting himself arrested.
Once the trial starts and pieces begin to be put together, the Portuguese league leaders could be in for a tough couple of months. It is a challenging question to inquire how they will handle the situation.
