Canadian author Declan Hill has just published a book called The Fix, an investigative account of sports events across the world that are manipulated by Asian betting syndicates. He talked to two reporters from the German weekly news magazine Der Spiegel about his claim that the 2006 World Cup round of 16 match between Ghana and Brazil was possibly manipulated, and that a number of Ghana’s players may have been complicit in ensuring that the African team would lose by at least two goals.
Hill says that in 2005 he met a shadowy figure in Thailand, whom he names only as Lee Chin. Chin allowed Hill to witness a meeting just before the World Cup involving a Ghanaian youth coach, whom Hill later tracked down in Ghana and named as Abukari Damba, and who claimed to have the consent of eight Ghanaian players to ensure a certain result in at least one of the team’s World Cup games.
“Two days before the match against Brazil in the round of 16,” Hill told the reporters, “Chin called and said that the deal with the Ghanaians was on, 100 percent, he said, he was absolutely certain Ghana would lose by at least two goals. The Ghanaians played as though they were putting their whole heart into it, but then there were a number of stupid mistakes: passes didn’t succeed, the defense was careless, the team collected three stupid goals. After the game I was in the stands in Dortmund with tears in my eyes because I was convinced, at least emotionally, that the match had been fixed.”