International football match Bahrain - Togo 2010
An alleged " international football match" between Bahrain and Togo took place on September 7, 2010 in the national stadium in Bahrain . It had been reported to FIFA and was broadcast live on state television. However, the Togolese team was not the actual national team .
Bahrain's national team won easily 3-0. The quality of the opposing game cast doubt on the identity of the visiting team. Bahrain's coach Josef Hickersberger explained that the Togolese, whose nationality is also in question, were "not even fit enough to play 90 minutes".
In response to a request from the National Football Association of the Gulf State, the Fédération Togolaise de Football said it was unaware of an invitation to a friendly match in Togo . However, the Bahraini vice chairman Ali bin Chalifa Al Chalifa wanted to have received a positive response to an invitation letter.
According to its own investigations, the Togolese Football Association banned the former national coach Tchanilé Bana , who had acted as a supervisor on the sidelines, for three years. Bana had been fired a good year earlier because he had played at a tournament in Cairo, also known as the Togolese national team, which consisted exclusively of footballers from a training center he ran privately; for the performance in Bahrain he is said to have received € 150,000 "entry bonus". FIFA had declared that it was not responsible because national football associations could agree on friendly matches on their own. Sports minister Christophe Tchao had initially hoped that the world football association would deal with the matter.
Web links
- Spiegel: "Wrong national team against Bahrain - Togo blocks impostor trainer"
- Press portal: "FIFA is investigating a curious case: fake match between Bahrain and Togo?"
- Reuters: "Togo wants the truth about Bahrain scam"
- Kicker: Bahrain's last games
Individual evidence
- ↑ France Football of September 21, 2010, p. 40