Did Nigeria aid Scotland in match-fixing during friendly?

Troy Machir

Did Nigeria aid Scotland in match-fixing during friendly? image

On Tuesday, the Scottish Football Federation announced that it had been in contact with "relevant authorities" following allegations of attempted match-fixing of the Wednesday's international friendly between Scotland and Nigeria.

The National Crime Agency asked FIFA to "issue an alert over potential attempts to rig the game," according to The Daily Telegraph.

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On Wednesday, the two countries took to the pitch for their World Cup tune-up match, and there was a particular play that looked all too fishy considering the circumstances.

Nigeria goalkeeper Austin Ejide blatantly tossed the the ball backward into his own net during a corner kick instead of punching it out of the goal box.

Luckily for both sides, a foul was called on Scotland’s Grant Hanley, which nullified the own-goal. But the SFF and FIFA are likely to take a good, hard look at whether this play was part of a match-fixing ploy or just a fluke.

It looks more like the former than the latter.

Nigeria will play the United States in its final tune-up match on June 7 in Jacksonville, Florida.

(Sports Illustrated)

Troy Machir