A Spanish court today sentenced two former Betis players and five former Osasuna officials to prison terms for corruption charges related to match-fixing in the Spanish Football League for the 2013-2014 season.
According to court documents, this is the first ruling issued in connection with match-fixing in Spain.
Accusations of match-fixing were charged against nine people who plotted to help Osasuna avoid relegation to the second division in 2014.
However, the team eventually fell after finishing the season in eighteenth place (out of 20).
The court accused Osasuna of paying 650,000 euros for Real Betis, divided between 400,000 euros to beat Valladolid, who was also struggling to stay in the first degree, and 250,000 for the loss against Osasuna, in the last two stages of the season.
Osasuna's former director, Angel Fiscay, received the harshest sentence of eight years and eight months in prison, for being convicted of sports fraud, embezzlement and counterfeiting.
Both former Betis Antonio Amaya and Xavi Torres were both convicted of sports corruption, and were sentenced to one year in prison and two years of football deprivation, in addition to a 900,000-euro fine.
The convictions included former officials of Osasuna, Miguel Arcanco, Juan Antonio Pascual, Jes بيرs Peralta and Sancho Bandris, and agents in the real estate sector Cristina Valencia and Albert Nola.
In the 2013-2014 season, Betis beat Valladolid 4-3 in the penultimate stage, before losing to Osasuna 2-1 in the closing stage. However, the results of other matches led to Osasuna falling after he finished the season with 39 points, accompanied by Valladolid, who is nineteenth (38), and Betis, who was the guarantor of the decline, and ended the season in last place (25 points).