UEFA bans 2 Armenians for life
NYON, Switzerland (AP) — UEFA has banned two football referees from Armenia for life for trying to fix a Europa League match in a betting scam.
UEFA says referee Andranik Arsenyan and assistant Hovhannes Avagyan admitted trying to corrupt Vikingur’s 1-0 win at Inter Turku in Finland.
UEFA investigated after its betting monitoring unit “detected suspicious betting patterns” on the July 11 match.
Both officials, who were expelled by the Armenian football federation, had been approved by FIFA for international matches since January 2012.
UEFA can ask FIFA to apply the bans worldwide.
Arsenyan awarded two penalties late in the then-scoreless match, reportedly to help ensure both teams scored.
Vikingur, a team from the Faeroe Islands, scored its penalty in the 78th minute and Turku missed from the spot two minutes later.
