An abnormal wave of bets and refusal to enter the field: how one of the Ukrainian teams was suspected of surrendering the game to Shakhtar

Mysterious Instagram post and increased odds

The penultimate round of the Ukrainian football championship was overshadowed by a grandiose scandal.

On Thursday, five teams were supposed to play their matches at once, which had not yet guaranteed themselves a place in the Premier League for the next season: Rukh, Ingulets, Mariupol, Olympic and Minai.

At the same time, the last team was the main contender for the elimination.

A modest team from the village of the same name with a population of several thousand people was three points behind the saving 13th place.

At the same time, Mykola Tsymbal's wards had to play with Shakhtar, who had not yet guaranteed themselves silver medals and a ticket to the Champions League.

The strangeness began already when the meeting from Uzhgorod, located next to Minai, was moved to Kiev due to "the impossibility of holding the match at Avangard due to technical reasons at the aforementioned time - 19:00".

The first alarm bell sounded the day before the game, when a mysterious nonamereporter account appeared on Instagram with a single post.

It said that the Minaj - Shakhtar match would be of a contractual nature.

Allegedly, the "mafia" has put a lot of money on the fact that in the first half they will score more than 2.5 goals, and in 90 minutes - more than 4.5.

Further events developed rapidly.

Less than three hours before the starting whistle, information appeared in the Ukrainian media that Minaj was refusing to go to the game.

It was noted that on the eve the odds for the victory of an outsider had sharply increased (from 27 to 44), and an abnormal number of bets were made on the total of the meeting over 3.5.

It was reported that the head coach's consultant Alexander Sevidov, before leaving for the stadium, gathered a team in the hotel lobby and reported suspicions on the part of bookmakers.

After that, many players refused to take part in the game and thereby spoil their reputation.

Only an hour before the starting whistle, the team went to Olimpiyskiy and arrived at the arena at 18:40 - 20 minutes before the game.

The meeting was in jeopardy.

The debate over whether to enter the field or not continued in the locker room.

Tsymbal was walking along the lawn at that moment and talking to someone on the phone.

According to media reports, a tough ultimatum was delivered to Minai.

If the team had not appeared in the under-stands at 19:25, it would have been scored for a technical defeat.

As a result, the nominal owners were persuaded to abandon the demarche, and at 19:35 the game started.

They carried out the warm-up already on the way to the field.

There were only 16 players in the application for the match, and several experienced performers, including the ex-striker of the Ukrainian national team Artyom Milevsky, were absent even on the bench.

Weakened by the scandal, the outsider failed to fight the favorite.

In the first half, Taras Stepanenko opened the scoring, and after the break, Manor Salomon, Maicon and the same Stepanenko finished off the opponent with precise strikes.

Silence of the coach and accusations from journalists

Thus, the Pitmen, as the bookmakers had predicted, won a major victory and guaranteed themselves second place.

“Minaj” has lost its last chances to maintain a place in the elite.

After the game, everyone was waiting for comments from the team's representatives on the situation, but they preferred not to expand on this topic.

So, Tsymbal noted that "he wants to talk only about football."

“The leadership will give an official position.

I am preparing for the game, so I would like to listen to questions about the match, ”the coach said at a press conference.

And according to the version of the midfielder of “Minay” Vasily Pynyashko, more than half an hour's delay was due to the “delay of the bus”.

And only his teammate Vitaly Boyko directly admitted that the players were afraid for their reputation.

“There is some incomprehensible information for the team on the net.

Everyone values ​​their reputation, because when such SMS arrives, you read the news that a lot of money is staked on your defeat, you understand: your career may simply end.

Therefore, such a situation arose - they were deciding what to do right.

First of all, we thought about “Minai”, about ourselves, so that there would be no incomprehensible attitude towards us, no trials.

This is the end for the club, it is unpleasant for the players, so the president, players, management and coach conferred to the end.

We decided to enter the field, ”the athlete said on the air of the Football News program.

A little more detail about the scandal in his Telegram channel was written by the famous Ukrainian journalist Artyom Frankov.

In his opinion, Shakhtar should have won with a difference of three or four goals, but Minaj “refused to comply with the order to drain”. 

“The second and, it seems, the main version: absenteeism is the only way to return the huge money put into the bets (someone from Minai's entourage). But to leave is dangerous, because Shakhtar will throw fives to the disassembled opponent, the bets will come in, and then a powerful nimble with the participation of the Ministry of Internal Affairs will begin (anomalous bets are at gunpoint - I suppose bookmakers are not silent in such situations). A police source confirms ... So for now, before new information arrives, we figure it out. But! The guys have a specific dead end, yes, the players are hostages, but no one bothers them to tell about their position. I think a lot of discoveries await us, ”Frankov wrote.

In turn, the editor-in-chief of Profutball Digital, Vladimir Zverov, said that many bookmakers withdrew the match from the line after an abnormal wave of bets. Moreover, according to him, most of them were done just for the fact that three or more goals would be scored in the confrontation.