Ex-Osasuna chief admits paying bribes to avoid La Liga relegation

Published on: 21 January 2020

Ex-Osasuna executive Angel Vizcay centre, arrives for trial at Pamploma.

Former Osasuna executive Angel Vizcay has said his club paid hundreds of thousands of euros to La Liga clubs between 2012 and 2014 to help the club avoid relegation.

Vizcay testified on Tuesday in a court in Pamplona, Spain, as part of a match-fixing case in which 11 people, including six former Osasuna executives and three ex-Betis players, face charges of sporting fraud, misappropriation and falsifying documents and accounts.

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According to Vizcay, who worked for the club for more than 20 years under six different presidents, Osasuna paid at the end of the 2012-13 campaign €150,000 to Real Valladolid to beat Deportivo La Coruna and the same amount to Real Betis to defeat Celta Vigo, both direct rivals of Osasuna in their battle to avoid the drop.

He also stated that €400,000 was paid to Getafe so that they would not win at Osasuna and another €400,000 was also given as a bonus to players to avoid the drop.

Vizcay added that, in the 2013-14 season, the club paid €400,000 to Betis to give extra incentive beat Real Valladolid and another €250,000 to Betis to lose against Osasuna, while also agreeing a payment of €250,000 to Espanyol to draw with Osasuna.

"All the destinations of the payments were discussed and decided during the [club's] board meeting," Vizcay told the court.

Osasuna finished 16th in the 2012-13 campaign but despite winning 2-1 against Betis in the last round of the 2013-14 season, they did not avoid relegation, finishing 18th in the table.

The basis of the trial is on the €650,000 that Betis received from Osasuna in the 2013-14 campaign, the €400,000 to beat Valladolid in the 37th round and the €250,000 to lose against Osasuna in the 38th and final round of games.

Osasuna gained promotion to La Liga in May 2019 and are 13th in the table after 20 games played.

Source: espn.co.uk

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