Exclusive: Wiretap Benfica plan payments in ‘bag game’

‘Jogo da mala’ will consist of incentives offered by Benfica to smaller clubs in exchange for performance against rivals

Valter Vieira, former sporting director of Vitória de Setubal, has been bugged as he claims Benfica promised €10,000 to each Sadino athlete who played against FC Porto on March 19, 2017, tying the equalizer. “They have to hand over the bag. Benfica must move on,” Vitoria’s manager said on the phone, after later confirming to the judicial police the incentives for the Eagles.

In the massive operation that has been taking place against Benfica for five years, to which TVI / CNN Portugal had access, there is information about the so-called “game in the bag” – incentives for small clubs to play against big rivals.

At the time, the so-called payments to win did not constitute corruption offenses, which occurred two months later, in an amendment to the law in May 2017. But since they are cash payments, which are not documented, they constitute fraud offenses. Taxes and money laundering.

Also in this chapter of the process, there is a hearing between the same Valter Vieira and the player Nelson Linho who played for Desportivo de Chaves. The first told the second that Benfica had already offered €15,000 for each Belenenses player if they could beat Porto.

These are just some of the facts that Benfica will have to respond to when an accusation is made, in the process that mainly deals with sports corruption, due to suspicions that the athletes were bribed to facilitate matches against the Reds.

Benfica penalty kick goal

Also this week, TVI/CNN Portugal reported a Another case is under investigation And the involvement of Benfica. The authorities believe that the Luz club paid Moreirense by signing the player Alpha Semedo so that the athlete would commit a penalty kick in the last championship match of the 2017/18 season.

This is one of the facts from the massive five-year operation against Benfica that TVI/CNN Portugal had access to.

€43m was at stake for who finished second in the championship and reached the Champions League – since FC Porto were crowned champions – and challenged their Lisbon rivals for the vacant spot to the last.

In the last round, on May 13, 2018, Sporting lost points in Madeira, against Maritimo, with a slip from goalkeeper Rui Patricio, and Benfica got 3 crucial points in a match that resulted in the prosecution, after an investigation by the judicial police. He thought he was addicted.

There is a suspicion of sporting corruption in this process, in favor of Benfica, due to the economic dependence of several clubs smaller than the red clubs, which is now up to the Public Prosecution Office to demonstrate an accusation that must be known later. this year.

In the same investigation, the Public Prosecution Service intercepted several messages between the then-President of Benfica and the coach of Sporting. Luis Felipe Vieira and Jorge Jesus, who have shared a dressing room with the Reds for six years, have been in constant talks, including before club matches.

It was possible to deduce this after a comprehensive analysis of Luiz Felipe Vieira’s mobile phone in the huge operation in which Benfica has been investigated for five years. One of the letters reads: “I have no doubt that each of us knows more while asleep than he does while awake.”

Even after the exchange of accusations and provocations on both sides after the departure of Jorge Jesus da Luz to Alvalade, the two sides did not stop talking.