The Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) has called for a ‘rigorous investigation’ into alleged irregularities in a football match between the Brazilian side Corinthians and Argentina’s Boca Juniors on 15^th May 2013. The match, which ended in a 1-1 draw, was the second leg of the quarter-final of the Copa Libertadores de América, an annual international football competition between South American clubs and organised by CONMEBOL, the South American Football Confederation.

In its statement the CBF said that the case was ‘serious and needs to be determined. We have a Brazilian club that may have been impaired and it is the duty of the CBF defend it to the bitter end.’ The statement from Marco Polo Del Nero, president of the CBF, continued, ‘We have full confidence in the Conmebol and president Juan Angel Napout and we are confident that everything will be clarified.’

Boca Juniors won the first leg of the match 1-0, and the draw eliminated the Brazilian side from the competition, Boca Juniors going through with a 2-1 win on aggregate. According to media outlets, the Brazilian side protested vigorously at the outcome of the result, arguing that two Corinthians goals were disallowed and two penalties were allegedly ignored by referee Carlos Amarilla.

The CBF’s statement follows the release of recordings of telephone conversations by Argentina’s Canal America TV between Argentine officials and the former FIFA vice-president and President of the Argentine Football Association (AFA) Julio Grondona, who died last year. According to the AFP, the published conversations ‘appeared to confirm Grondona’s role in corruption, pointing to his involvement in match-fixing, rigging schedules and refereeing appointments.’

In particular, Paraguyan media linked recorded comments made by Grondona to Abel Gnecco, director of the School of Referees of AFA and the AFA representative in the Arbitration Committee of CONMEBOL. with the 2013 Copa Libertadores match. In it the two officials laugh at the appointment of the Paraguyan referee Carlos Amarilla to the match, suggesting that it was they who advised he be appointed.

Since the release of the recorded conversations the Paraguayan Football Association (APF) suspended three referees implicated in the corruption of South American football. Carlos Amarilla, Carlos Caceres and Rodney Aquino were suspended following a statement from the Referees Committee of the Paraguayan Football Association. The referees will be prevented from overseeing official APF matches until the ‘alleged events reported by the media are elucidated’. Carlos Amarilla, who oversaw the 2013 match between Corinthians and Bocca is named as specifically being under investigation following the ‘publication of wiretaps’ involving the Copa Libertadores match between Corinthians and Bocca.