The match in question is Boca Juniors’ Round of 16 meeting with Agropecuario on 11 August, in which Agropecuario player Milton Leyendeker was red carded eight minutes into the game.
Prompted by local media reports, Prosecutor Celsa Ramirez is currently investigating whether or not there were any bets on a player from the home team to be red carded before the 10-minute mark.
“We want to see if there is any truth in the media reports,” said a source from the Prosecutor’s office, adding that such bets are illegal.
Leyendeker has, however, denied that his red card was deliberate, saying: “Am I going to leave my team with one less, playing against Boca, in a game that everyone wants to play?
“Something like this had never happened to me.”
Leyendeker’s red card had further implications, with his challenge on Exequiel Zeballos resulting in the latter requiring surgery on his ankle. Boca won the match at Estadio Padre Ernesto Martearena 1-0, and moved into the Copa Argentina quarter-finals with the victory.
The potential match-fixing in football follows last month’s match-fixing offence in tennis, when Dutch coach Max Wenders was handed a 12-year ban from the sport by the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) after admitting multiple match-fixing charges.
Wenders also admitted to destroying evidence requested by the ITIA (then the Tennis Integrity Unit) and failing to report a corrupt approach.
