Albania asks UEFA to investigate into alleged sale of Euro qualifiers

TIRANA, Dec. 3 – The Albanian government has asked UEFA to investigate the country’s last two qualifiers of the Euro 2008 Championship claiming they were sold. In a letter sent to UEFA legal manager Gianni Infantino, Minister Ylli Pango “kindly invite the responsible bodies of UEFA to investigate the run of both matches, and evaluate the results of this investigation.”
“There are clear suspicions that both matches might have been sold by the President of our National Football Federation. This is a clear evidence that he is using our national football team’s matches for his own interests, insulting the feelings of its fans and supporters wherever they are,” said the letter. Soccer federation head Armando Duka took the post during former Socialist Party governing, now in opposition, and is also a former Socialist minister’s brother. Albania lost 4-2 at home to Belarus and 6-1 away to Romania in the last two Euro 2008 qualifiers. Albania’s 75-year-old Croatian coach Otto Baric resigned after the two dismal losses saying “he was not capable of leading the team.“
Prime Minister Sali Berisha also harshly accused the players saying that Mafia clans among them was putting the national flag to shame.
Albanian Soccer Federation and players denied they had sold the matches not denying the disillusion from the losses.
Welcoming the investigation, they also asked pardon to the Albanian fans. “If that was true we would strongly denounce it and (punish) players not only firing them from the national team but also from any soccer activity in our country and abroad,“ said a federation statement, adding that, “soccer is a game that besides winning recognizes the loss as well and though the loss is bitter one should know how to accept it.”