The Cyprus football association (KOP) passed new sanctions for match-fixing at a board meeting yesterday, however it appears that they may only be applicable in cases where information on suspicious betting patterns is received from UEFA. A statement said that the new sections would apply ‘in cases where there is information from UEFA on suspicious betting activity for any Championship football match organised by the KOP’.

For a first offence, a guilty club will be fined €50,000. For a second offence, a club will be fined €50,000 but will also be docked six points. A third offence will mean a ban from competition as well as removal of all ‘grants and / or revenues that would have been received from participation in such championships’. A fourth offence will involve a €100,000 fine, as well as removal of the club from the KOP’s register and a five-year ban.

UEFA sent the KOP information on 75 matches it understands have been fixed since 2011 last week. The KOP sanctions are similar to those suggested by UEFA, only the fines are less. UEFA recommended that the KOP impose a €50,000 fine and the deduction of six points for a first offence; a ban on participation in the competition in question for a second offence; and a €1 million fine and five-year ban for a third offence. The Board meeting also set up a communications channel between the KOP and UEFA to facilitate information sharing regarding the information received from UEFA.

‘In cases where the file sent by UEFA found that the attempted manipulation signalled by suspicious betting activity failed, then the case will be filed without reference to the sporting judge’, read the KOP’s statement. ‘The documentation for all items will be referred for further examination and investigation by the police’.

Police are also understood to be investigating an 18 November bomb attack at the entrance to an insurance company headed by KOP President Costakis Koutsokoumnis, who reportedly told investigators it was the work of ‘underworld figures’ involved in match-fixing. A referee’s car was targeted in a similar attack in September, and the home of a referee’s mother was targeted last year.

Justice Minister Ionas Nicolaou, who has prepared a Bill regarding criminal sanctions for match-fixers, welcomed the KOP’s action. ‘If we do not demonstrate the required determination by all, we will never deal with this situation’, he wrote in a statement. Nicolaou said that the KOP had not submitted any objections to his Bill. ‘Our goal is for the Bill to be lodged with the House of Representatives in early 2017’, continued his statement.