Super Eagles Star Risks 4-Year Prison Sentence After Illegal Betting Scandal Indictment

• Super Eagles goalkeeper Maduka Okoye has been indicted in an illegal betting scandal in Italy
• The goalkeeper was accused of purposely receiving a yellow card during a Serie A match last year
• Okoye risks up to four years in jail and suspension from football and related activities if convicted

Super Eagles goalkeeper Maduka Okoye has been indicted in an illegal betting scandal in Italy and is set to face trial, with his career in football at risk.

After moving to join Udinese in the summer of 2023 from EFL Championship side Watford, he immediately became the team’s first-choice goalkeeper.

The German-born shot-stopper helped the club avoid relegation in his first season, with Udinese narrowly finishing two points above the drop zone after an impressive final weeks of the season.

His second season was tough: he was out for three months due to a finger injury but played in 26 matches in all competitions, conceding 40 goals and keeping five clean sheets, per Transfermarkt.

While Okoye was on the sidelines, reports emerged in Italy that he was allegedly involved in an illegal betting scandal, with many similar cases rocking the country in recent years.

Okoye indicted in betting scandal

The Super Eagles goalkeeper received a yellow card for time wasting in the 63rd minute of Udinese’s 2-1 win over Lazio held at the Stadio Olimpico on March 11, 2024.

Udine’s public prosecutor found an anomaly in the number of bets on the game, particularly with the caution Okoye received, which was staked eight times more than usual.

A preliminary investigation was opened, and it has now been established that bets placed on that outcome led to winnings as much as €120,000 in fixed points located in the province of Udine.

According to the Italian publication Ansa, the police statement alleged that there was a prior agreement between the Nigerian goalkeeper and one of the suspects who placed bets on the game.

The statement has been translated as follows:

“The investigative elements collected - the Police Headquarters informs - also implemented by technical checks on the equipment used by the suspects, have allowed us to corroborate the accusatory hypothesis of an unlawful nature of the majority of the aforementioned winnings, considered the exclusive result of a prior agreement between the Friulian footballer - actually cautioned in that match for time wasting in the 63rd minute of play - and one of the investigated bettors, from which the increasing bets would then have been generated also by two additional bettors, in turn investigated for complicity in the fraud in question.”

Okoye, who was in goal for Super Eagles’ 1-1 draw against Russia on June 6, per the BBC, faces up to a suspended four-year prison sentence and even suspension from football and all football-related activities if convicted.

Okoye’s lawyer releases statement on betting scandal

Legit.ng also reported that Okoye’s lawyer published a statement after footballer was first accused of being involved in the illegal betting scandal earlier this year.

Maurizio Conti firmly denied the allegations and claimed that he and his clients were calm despite the police searching his house for evidence amid the investigations.

Source: Legit.ng