Dylan Bettencourt
The scandal-ridden President of Tunisian club ES Zarzis Aly Oueremmi has been accused of hypocrisy after he said that football in the country is being “eaten away” by corruption.
Oueremmi, who is in the midst of a match-fixing scandal, recently saw his team relegated to the second division in spectacularly controversial fashion.
Zarzis were in a 1-1 deadlock with ES Hammam Sousse. The home side were winning the game before they appeared to allow the opposition to get an equaliser.
Zarzis were then accused of allowing the opposition to score in order to relegate their rivals, ES Metlaoui.
The Zarzis goalkeeper and right-back were subsequently handed five-year bans and fined R250,000 for their role in the incident.
“Corruption is eating away at Tunisian football,” Oueremmi told BBC Sport Africa.
“There is no fair play nor equal opportunity in Tunisian football – either when it comes to referee or match assignments. There are certain referees that are assigned to manipulate matches. There are unjust referees and controversial results.”
During the 1-1 draw, chants of “let him score” rang from the crowd before Mossab Sassi from Hammam Sousse dribbled through the defence unchallenged and scored the equaliser.
Metlaoui fans claimed Zarzis intentionally gave away the game to benefit their opponent and send them to the second division in the process.
The enraged fans began rioting in the area, halting phosphate production in one of the country’s biggest factories.
“We’re talking about a scandal – match-fixing – and this isn’t only about the teams. This is a corrupt system,” Mohamed Dinary, the Metlaoui president, told a local radio station shortly afterwards.
The Tunisian Football Federation ordered that Metlaoui and Hammam Sousse play a fixture to determine who gets relegated.
Metlaoui have however refused to take part in the fixture scheduled for Wednesday.
“We refuse such improvised decisions and refuse to play any game,” a Metlaoui statement said in response.
