The brothers, Dominic and Donewell Yobe, were found guilty of accepting a bribe from a bookie in order to influence the outcome of a football game. In a decision handed down Friday, the brothers were also ordered to pay 50,000 euros of their ill-gotten gains to the state.
Last season Dominic and Donewell played with the football team AC Oulu. They were suspected of accepting a bribe to influence the outcome of the club’s game against the Turku Football Club (TPS) last autumn. It was agreed before the game that Dominic would force a penalty kick and that Donewell would intentionally draw a red card from the referee.
AC Oulu lost the game, although the Yobes did not carry out the plan agreed with the bookie. According to AC Oulu coach Juha Malinen, the performance of the entire team was sub-standard during the match in question. Malinen said that a video recording of the match showed that the Yobe brothers made many crucial mistakes, however he said it was not sufficient to conclude that the errors were deliberate.
The day after the match a friend delivered the agreed 50,000 euros to the Zambian players. The brothers told the Court that they were surprised to have received the money, although they had not played as agreed. They gave 3,000 euros to the friend and divided the rest. They claimed that the offer of money was irresistible in light of their poor salaries.
In its judgment the Court said the Yobes were united in their action, and therefore called on the footballers to jointly hand over their illegal takings to the state.
