Cape Town - A secret FIFA report has revealed that at least seven international friendlies played before the World Cup in 2010 were fixed.
According to Sky Sports website, notorious match-fixer Wilson Raj Perumal - who is currently in prison in Finland after being found guilty of match-fixing - used a front company to supply the referees for specific international friendlies.
A deal with the South African Football association, signed in May 2010, allowed specific referees to be allocated to all of South Africa's friendlies ahead of the World Cup kickoff. These match officials were then paid up to 70, 000 dollars a game to fix the results in favour of the South African side.
The games believed to have been fixed include five involving the 2010 World Cup host nation.
South Africa's 4-0 win over Thailand, a 1-1 draw with Bulgaria, a 2-1 win over Colombia, a 5-1 win over Guatemala and a 1-0 victory over Denmark were played in May and June 2010 and are all being investigated.
Other games under suspicion are Nigeria's 3-1 win over Korea and Japan's goalless draw with Zimbabwe.
FIFA admitted last week that attempts had already been made to fix games at the forthcoming World Cup in Brazil.
The report states: "An investigation by FIFA Security has established that at least five and possibly far more international matches in the lead-up to Football World Cup (FWC) 2010 were "fixed" by a well-known match fixing criminal, Wilson Raj PERUMAL, using both a front company, "Football 4 U International" (F4U) and corrupted referees - at least one notoriously so, Mr Ibrahim CHAIBOU."
FIFA has confimed that its investigation is ongoing.
According to Sky Sports website, notorious match-fixer Wilson Raj Perumal - who is currently in prison in Finland after being found guilty of match-fixing - used a front company to supply the referees for specific international friendlies.
A deal with the South African Football association, signed in May 2010, allowed specific referees to be allocated to all of South Africa's friendlies ahead of the World Cup kickoff. These match officials were then paid up to 70, 000 dollars a game to fix the results in favour of the South African side.
The games believed to have been fixed include five involving the 2010 World Cup host nation.
South Africa's 4-0 win over Thailand, a 1-1 draw with Bulgaria, a 2-1 win over Colombia, a 5-1 win over Guatemala and a 1-0 victory over Denmark were played in May and June 2010 and are all being investigated.
Other games under suspicion are Nigeria's 3-1 win over Korea and Japan's goalless draw with Zimbabwe.
FIFA admitted last week that attempts had already been made to fix games at the forthcoming World Cup in Brazil.
The report states: "An investigation by FIFA Security has established that at least five and possibly far more international matches in the lead-up to Football World Cup (FWC) 2010 were "fixed" by a well-known match fixing criminal, Wilson Raj PERUMAL, using both a front company, "Football 4 U International" (F4U) and corrupted referees - at least one notoriously so, Mr Ibrahim CHAIBOU."
FIFA has confimed that its investigation is ongoing.