STOCKHOLM: A Swedish appeal court on Wednesday convicted a former Leeds United winger Pawel Cibicki for deliberately taking a yellow card in a game in Sweden's top-flight.
The case concerns a match in May 2019, when he was on-loan from the English side at IF Elfsborg, against Kalmar FF in the Swedish Allsvenskan.
Originally acquitted by the district court, which cited a lack of evidence, the appeal court instead convicted Cibicki, 27, for “agreeing with two people... to ‘take a yellow card’” in exchange for a loan of 300,000 kroner ($33,000, 29,000 euros).
The court sentenced the former Malmo FF forward a conditional discharge for “taking a bribe and cheating”.
This means he will not need to serve any prison time, but will have a two year probation period during which the sentence can be changed if he violates the terms of the probation.
Cibicki denied the crime.
The other two individuals involved were convicted of giving bribes and cheating.
The investigation showed that a total of 27 betting accounts had been opened a few days before or on the day of the incident by people connected to the two people behind the bribe.
“From all these accounts, money was bet on the footballer receiving a warning during the game,“ the court said in a statement.
Cibicki, who moved to Polish first division side Pogon Szczecin in January 2020, had already been suspended for four years by the Swedish Football Association prior to this conviction, which was extended to the global level by FIFA.
This is the first time a player has been convicted over a betting scam in Sweden. - AFP
