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http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2013-02-04/sports/36743445_1_europol-major-league-soccer-international-soccer

I'm not really a fan, but couldn't help hearing about this at work and was wondering how badly this will impact the game, if at all. Will it put soccer in the same catagory as proffesional wrestling in people's eyes?

Hardly that, I think most people, especially the ones who follow it, are well aware that WWE is a kind of combat soap opera, rather than a real sport.

Cricket had a major scandal last year. Any major international sport is prone to this kind of corruption because there is so much money involved.

Football is the biggest game in the world so it's hardly surprising there would be match fixing.

Since FIFA are also a bit suspect, with large amounts of cash swaying major tournament staging decisions, I don't think anything really substantial will happen in this case.

Look at the Italians, still in major competitions and yet there are still unresolved corruption and match fixing scandals going on.

Also in Germany and Spain.

Where there is money there is muck. No surprise there.

And no, a scandal in the top flight will not stop football being played more than any other sport on the planet any time soon.

Have the fixed it so the players no longer drop to the floor crying when they're hit by a stiff breeze?

All this talk about flopping in the NBA is how you know most Americans have never watched soccer.

As for the OP, it's not going to do much of anything to affect the game.

 d-usa wrote:
All this talk about flopping in the NBA is how you know most Americans have never watched soccer.

As for the OP, it's not going to do much of anything to affect the game.

The Mexicans, along with the Central and South Americans I work with talk about it also. No one can flop like a soccer player.

Match fixing happens quite alot and often FIFAs role in it is rather suspect.

Will it make a difference, no, of course not.

Relapse wrote:

 d-usa wrote:
All this talk about flopping in the NBA is how you know most Americans have never watched soccer.

As for the OP, it's not going to do much of anything to affect the game.

The Mexicans, along with the Central and South Americans I work with talk about it also. No one can flop like a soccer player.

To be fair though, as anyone who's ever played football can attest to, when you're sprinting for the ball it doesn't take much to trip you up. A little tap on the ankle can send you flying. Of course, you won't be as horrendously injured as some (particularly central and south American) players pretend to be.

 Albatross wrote:

Relapse wrote:

 d-usa wrote:
All this talk about flopping in the NBA is how you know most Americans have never watched soccer.

As for the OP, it's not going to do much of anything to affect the game.

The Mexicans, along with the Central and South Americans I work with talk about it also. No one can flop like a soccer player.

To be fair though, as anyone who's ever played football can attest to, when you're sprinting for the ball it doesn't take much to trip you up. A little tap on the ankle can send you flying. Of course, you won't be as horrendously injured as some (particularly central and south American) players pretend to be.

I've played, and I still think it looks absolutely stupid.

I think it's just something to watch for now, people like this always trip themselves up sooner or later.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/21325912

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/21277945

see ? More freak and unrealistic results like these and the jig is up.

 rubiksnoob wrote:

 Albatross wrote:

Relapse wrote:

 d-usa wrote:
All this talk about flopping in the NBA is how you know most Americans have never watched soccer.

As for the OP, it's not going to do much of anything to affect the game.

The Mexicans, along with the Central and South Americans I work with talk about it also. No one can flop like a soccer player.

To be fair though, as anyone who's ever played football can attest to, when you're sprinting for the ball it doesn't take much to trip you up. A little tap on the ankle can send you flying. Of course, you won't be as horrendously injured as some (particularly central and south American) players pretend to be.

I've played, and I still think it looks absolutely stupid.

I value your opinion.

 Kilkrazy wrote:
WWE is a kind of combat soap opera, rather than a real sport.

Best decription of WWE I've read

Relapse wrote:
No one can flop like a soccer player.

We call it diving. It annoys me when I see world class players –ie Ronaldo doing it. The man is good enough to keep his feet and waltz through the opposition, but instead, any chance he gets he’s lying down.
On occasion, I think some of the opposing teams fans must be bringing snipers.

Match fixing? Half the players are cheating already.

Most of the rolling around on the floor is gamesmanship, nothing more. It's a non contact sport at the end of the day, and the tendency is to make the worst of any bumps etc in an effort to be awarded penalties... not macho in the slightest, but neither are most soccer players.

I looked up gamesmanship on wikipedia - I'd not heard the term before.

I think that makes the football players doing this WAAC...

"Gamesmanship is the use of dubious (although not technically illegal) methods to win or gain a serious advantage in a game or sport. It has been described as "Pushing the rules to the limit without getting caught, using whatever dubious methods possible to achieve the desired end" (Lumpkin, Stoll and Beller, 1994:92). It may be inferred that the term derives from the idea of playing for the game (i.e., to win at any cost) as opposed to sportsmanship, which derives from the idea of playing for sport. The term originates from Stephen Potter's humorous 1947 book, The Theory and Practice of Gamesmanship (or the Art of Winning Games without Actually Cheating)."

 d-usa wrote:
All this talk about flopping in the NBA is how you know most Americans have never watched soccer.

As for the OP, it's not going to do much of anything to affect the game.

Not do much to effect the game? I'm afraid you're living in a fantasy world. England beat Brazil, and nobody blinked an eyelid, that's how endemic football fixing has become!

I'd much rather the authorities dealt with referees being bribed. When was the last time an opposition team got a penalty at Old Trafford? 15 years ago I think!

And what about your team, Bayern. They lost a home CL final against a team owned by a dodgy Russian billionaire. You call that a coincidence?

Yeah, I've suspected it for a while. The poor position of Aston Villa confirms it, also the 2006 Soccer World Cup match Australia vs Italy was rigged. The penalty against Australia was a clear dive.