Governing Bodies
Life ban for South African club who scored 41 own goals
After four clubs were banned for life from the fourth tier of South African football after fixing games in a bid to win the league, authorities have lined up a series of workshops to educate coaches, officials and referees.
For as table-topping rivals Matiyasi FC and Shivulani Dangerous Tigers battled for the title last month, so some extraordinary scorelines emerged.
The Tigers beat Kotoko Happy Boys 33-1 in late May, only for Matiyasi to improve on this with an eye-popping 59-1 victory over third-placed Nsami Mighty Birds.
Officials from the clubs have received suspensions of between five and eight seasons for their roles in fixing the games on 22 May, while the respective match officials have been given ten-season bans.
“These people don’t have respect for football, and we cannot allow it to happen again,” Vincent Ramphago, president of the Mopani region, told BBC Sport Africa.
“What is sad is there are young players involved because the competition rules stipulate that each team has to field at least five players under 21.
“Our main aim in organising leagues is to make sure we groom the young footballers into potential future Bafana Bafana players.”
Despite their efforts, the goals ultimately counted for little however, as Gawula Classic – who finished fourth in the league – were declared winners of South Africa’s Mopani region.
These came after the bans handed out to the three teams above them, with Shivulani having led by three points, not to mention being 16 goals ahead on goal difference, prior to kick-off of the final day.
“Our investigation found that Matiyasi and Nsami wanted to stop Shivulani from topping the log so they agreed on fixing the match to prevent this from happening,” stated Ramphago.
“After hearing that Matiyasi were leading 22-0 at half-time, Shivulani colluded to remove Kotoko Happy Boys players from the field. The players who came off said they were tired leaving their team with only seven players.
“In the Matiyasi game meanwhile, the referee gave players red cards so that Nsami ended up with seven players.”
When the teams had previously met in March, the scorelines were considerably more sober, with Matiyasi beating Nsami Mighty Birds 2-1 while Shivulani Dangerous Tigers drew 2-2 with Kotoko Happy Boys.
The disciplinary committee has already found evidence of collusion between the respective teams and the match officials to contrive the results.
Players from the four teams in South Africa’s northern Limpopo province will learn their fate in the next few days.
Heavy sanctions are expected after Kotoko Happys Boys’ players simply left the field in their 33-1 thrashing, while it emerged that Nsami Mighty Birds had scored 41 own goals during their 59-1 mauling – despite finishing the game with only seven players.
“When we investigated we discovered that some of the Matiyasi goals were not even [properly registered] because the referee was unable to interpret his report,” said Ramphago.
“We found the referee was just writing – ‘player number 2 scored 10 goals, player number 5 scored 20 goals’ and so on – but there were 41 own goals so how were they recording these?” added Ramphago, who is also the chairman of the region’s competitions committee.
Angry Birds
Nsami Mighty Birds coach Neil Thwala told a national radio station his players were angry going into the Matiyasi game.
“In the previous match we played, we were told the referee is part of Shivulane Dangerous Tigers,” the Nsami coach said.
“We scored four goals but all of them were disallowed by the referee but then they hit a side net and the referee said it’s a goal. When we reported the matter to Safa, we were told that the referee’s decision is final.
“The players’ minds were not on the game because even if they won, they knew it wasn’t going to help them in any way. I tried as a coach to push them but it was difficult – there was nothing I could do.”
Unlikely scorelines are nothing new in African football, with two Nigerian promotion rivals handed 10-year bans in 2013 after recording wins of 79-0 and 67-0.
Yet nothing beats the 149-0 win recorded by Madagascar’s AS Adema after their rivals SO l’Emyrne repeatedly scored into their own net after a disagreement between their coach and the match referee.
-BBC
World football governing body, FIFA, today clocks its 122nd anniversary, celebrating more than a century of overseeing and expanding the global game.
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As FIFA celebrates 122 years of existence, attention is now focused on the future of the game, technological innovations, expanded competitions, women’s football growth, and the continued globalisation of football.
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UEFA has issued a lifetime ban to Petr Vlachovsky, a Czech women’s soccer coach who secretly filmed his players, the governing body announced on Tuesday.
Czech media reported that the coach was convicted in May 2025 and initially received a suspended one-year prison sentence and a five-year domestic coaching ban for filming FC Slovacko’s players in changing rooms, the youngest of whom was 17.
In a statement, UEFA’s Control, Ethics and Disciplinary Body (CEDB) said it had decided to ban Vlachovsky “from exercising any football-related activity for life” following the appointment of an Ethics and Disciplinary Inspector to investigate allegations of potential misconduct.
“The CEDB further decided to request FIFA to extend the abovementioned ban on a worldwide level and to order the Football Association of the Czech Republic to revoke Mr Petr Vlachovsky’s coaching licence,” the statement added.
FC Slovacko did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.
Football players’ union FIFPRO welcomed the ban as well as UEFA’s request for world soccer governing body FIFA to impose an international ban on Vlachovsky.
“This outcome sends a strong and necessary message that abusive and inappropriate behaviour has no place in football and that safeguarding the well-being of players must remain a priority at every level of the game,” FIFPRO added in a statement.
Vlachovsky had also previously served as coach of the Czech women’s Under-19s team.
RELATED STORY: https://sportsvillagesquare.com/2026/04/08/outrage-as-male-coach-who-secretly-filmed-women-players-still-free-to-work-in-football/
-Reuters
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Southampton have been kicked out of the Championship playoff final after being found guilty of spying on semi-final opponents Middlesbrough, the English Football League said on Tuesday.
Middlesbrough, who lost 2-1 to Southampton on aggregate in the semi, have been reinstated and will face Hull City on Saturday in what is dubbed the world’s richest soccer match.
Promotion to the Premier League, even with an immediate relegation, is estimated to be worth in the region of 200 million pounds ($268.10 million) over three seasons.
Southampton, who admitted the charges, were also found guilty of filming training sessions involving Oxford United in December and Ipswich Town in April during the regular season.
They have also been deducted four points from the start of next season in England’s second tier.
“An Independent Disciplinary Commission has today expelled Southampton from the Championship play-offs after the club admitted multiple breaches of EFL regulations related to the unauthorised filming of other clubs’ training,” the EFL said.
“Southampton admitted breaches of Regulations requiring Clubs to act with the utmost good faith and prohibiting the observation of another Club’s training session within 72 hours of a scheduled match.
“The effect of today’s order is that Middlesbrough are reinstated into the 2026 play-offs and will proceed to the play-off final against Hull City. The final remains scheduled for Saturday 23 May, with the kick-off time to be confirmed.”
The EFL confirmed that Southampton could appeal against the decision and that “parties are working to try and resolve any appeal on Wednesday 20 May.
“Subject to the outcome, it could result in a further change to Saturday’s fixture,” the statement said.
‘BORO CALLED FOR SOUTHAMPTON EXPULSION
Middlesbrough had called for Southampton’s expulsion after having a training session at their Rockliffe Park site filmed 48 hours ahead of the first leg of their playoff semi-final with Southampton which ended 0-0.
The north-east club said they welcomed the decision.
“We believe this sends out a clear message for the future of our game regarding sporting integrity and conduct,” the north Middlesbrough said in a statement.
“As a club, we are now focused on our game against Hull City at Wembley on Saturday.”
Southampton were relegated from the Premier League last season and were struggling in the early part of this campaign until a storming finish in which they went unbeaten in 19 league games to finish fourth and enter the playoffs.
The south-coast club are the first to fall foul of the Football League’s regulation 127 — brought in after Leeds United were found guilty of spying on Derby County seven years ago, an offence for which they were fined 200,000 pounds.
-Reuters
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