Georgian Football unveils new initiative to tackle match-fixing

The Georgian Football Federation (GFF) aims to confront match-fixing in the national championship by introducing a special office for "sport fairness”, revealed GFF president Levan Kobiashvili.

The Federation's Executive Committee met yesterday and discussed ways to snub out match-fixing in the competition among other topics, said Kobiashvili at a press conference following the meeting.

Kobiashvili told reporters the special group created at the GFF would work round-the-clock to respond to reports and allegations of match-fixing, following the abandonment of a second-tier national championship match on November 29 after fears the game was rigged with a pre-determined result.

Kobiashvili, a former captain of Georgia’s national team, said the new GFF body would have the authority to make disciplinary ruling on incidents without getting law enforcement agencies involved except in cases involving violation of the Criminal Code of Georgia.

Kobiashvili announced his decision to postpone the League One match between Khobi Kolkheti and Liakhvi on Sunday to the involved players and staff. Photo from Georgian Football Federation.

Kobiashvili took the opportunity to speak at the press event about details of the incident that prompted him to postpone the League One game on Sunday, just before its planned kick-off.

The official decision was made after a player of Georgia’s second-tier competition reported he had been approached to cooperate in fixing the match between Khobi Kolkheti and Liakhvi in return for material reward.

Kobiashvili refrained from naming the player in question due to the ongoing investigation into the incident but shed light on his decision to postpone the match.

The decision to postpone the game was not easy, but I took the responsibility and was supported by the involved parties. I took the step as I was not aware whether there were any other individuals approached in the match-fixing attempt but choosing not to disclose the story. The possibility of it happening in this game was real,” the head of the national football body announced.

The GFF president condemned the alleged people or persons involved in the attempt of fixing the game for failing to realise recent "changes” in Georgian football and stressed the Federation would work to develop the sport and "win back trust” of its supporters after the game's recent history of controversy for match-fixing and corruption.

Kobiashvili was elected president of the GFF on October 3 in a closely contested elections that saw three candidates compete for one of the most prestigious positions in Georgian sport.

Kobiashvili, the former captain of Germany’s Hertha BSC club, received 18 votes while Revaz Arveladze - another popular former player of Georgia’s national team - gained 15 votes. Kobiashvili will hold the position for the next four years.