Chairman of the UAF Ethics and Fair Play Committee on the suspicious match between FSC Mariupol and Metalist 1925

Andriy Davydenko, chairman of the UAF Ethics and Fair Play Committee, told journalist Ihor Burbas about the 1:0 match between FSC Mariupol and Metalist 1925 in the First League (1:0), during which an abnormal movement of betting odds was allegedly observed.

- We would like to clarify with you about the first league match. You may know that the match was between Mariupol and Metalist 1925. Do you know the story of what happened there?

- The one with the 8-2 score?

- No, the one where Mariupol won 1-0 in the 1st round. A week ago, the match.

- No, I don't. And what is the situation there?

- The situation is as follows. According to what I was given from the bookmakers, all lines were closed in the 19th minute because there were abnormal bets on this match. "Metalist 1925 was considered an absolute favorite.

Before the match started, the odds on Mariupol were 6.80, and in the 18th minute, with the score 0-0 without penalties, the odds were already 2.53. And in the 19th minute the line was closed, in the 22nd minute Mariupol scored a goal and won both the 1st half and the match in general. Doesn't this situation sound strange to you?

- Well, yes, as you say, it is strange. We simply have a company that monitors abnormal betting movements, and they did not give us any report on this match. I'll check it out right now, of course, I'll call them and let them check this point for me.

- I'm just saying that the bookmaker who contacted me did not just pay me lip service, they sent me pictures, but asked me not to use them for the broadcast or for distribution at all. I have them on my phone, I saw them myself, but I just can't show them to you. That is, these are not just empty words, but real evidence on the scale that reflects the coefficients.

- This is how we work. We have a partnership with a company that monitors abnormal betting movements for all matches, for 5 leagues. If there is something abnormal, they inform us during the match, and we write letters to either the UPL or the PFL and close the line so that they do not broadcast the matches through the subcontract.

So if we had a signal, we would have reacted immediately. But we were not told anything, so I am not aware of this situation.

- Here, you see, the bookmakers closed the line themselves in the 19th minute.

- Moreover, I talked to our licensed betting companies. They have contacts, and if something happens, we agreed, they also signal. And no one from ours called me.

- I even asked, between us, if it was the Asian market that was loading all these amounts. I was told: "No, it's generally available in bookmakers, it wasn't necessarily in the Asian market."

- The Asian market also affects ours. If there is a downturn there, a decrease in coefficients, we also see them decrease, you can see it right away.

We will check it out now. If it is confirmed, we will open an internal investigation and continue to work.