The owner of the Druk Stars Football Club has been banned from football for seven years. He was found involved and guilty in an alleged match-fixing in the ongoing Bhutan Premier League 2020. Druk Stars FC is currently the lowest-ranked team in the Bhutan Premier League without a point till date.
Seen as one of the biggest problems in organised sports, match-fixing is when the outcome of a match has been manipulated for a team to advance or for gambling.
Following a verbal complaint from one of the players of the Druk Stars FC, the management of the Bhutan Football Federation (BFF) began to investigate the owner of the club right after the first game of the Bhutan Premier League 2020.
“One of the players of Druk Stars FC verbally told one of our officials about the matter since the start of the league. From that day onwards we began to keep an eye on the Druk Stars FC management and watched all their game. And we have also asked our friends in international federations like AFC to look at the betting world. So it was during the match with the Paro United FC where the pieces began to fall into place. From that day onwards, we had a clue that match-fixing was happening,” said Phuntsho Wangdi, the Head of Commercial and Communication with the BFF.
As per the BFF, the case, for now, has been forwarded to the Discipline Committee of the federation.
“The decision eventually will be taken by BFF and it will be taken by the decision committee to which the case has been forwarded for now. We have a few more evidence to be collected, and we will have a series of meeting before we come to a decision. I think there will be very strict action taken, banning the owner maybe for a lifetime, for ten years or seven years. Or we will be banning the club from this year or by next year,” he added.
However, talking to the owner of the Druk Stars FC, he claimed that he has already received the first letter from the Discipline Committee of the BFF. As per the letter, he has been asked to pay a fine of Nu 250,000 and banned for seven years from football. Likewise, after seven years, he will be demoted to a B-Division club if he aspires to manage a club. He is also not allowed to own a football club henceforth. And as for Druk Stars FC this year, he says he was informed that the club will be allowed to complete the current edition of the league despite the case, but will be demoted to B-division from the next season.
However, the Bhutan Football Federation clarified that this is not the final verdict. The committee is yet to meet again to decide on the final verdict.
Founded in 1998, Druk Stars FC is one of the oldest clubs in the country. Since the start of the Bhutan Premier League 2020 in August, Druk Stars FC has been struggling at the bottom of the point table with no win. They have conceded over 30 goals and scored only 2 goals so far.
Passang Dorji
