Manipulation in Bulgaria vs Estonia friendly?

It could be the weirdest case of trying to manipulate an international football match so far. Both world football governing body FIFA and their European body UEFA agreed on friday to investigate the international friendly between Bulgaria and Estonia, which was played on Wednesday at the Turkish resort of Antalya amid allegations of possible manipulations.

The international friendly had ended in a two-all draw, but what raised speculations was the fact that all four goals came off penalties. A fact which I haven't heard about. Interestingly an earlier match that day at the same venue had Latvia winning 2-1 against Bolivia and there too all goals came off penalties.

The two matches are said to have been organised by a sports management agency from Thailand and now there could be a link to Asian betting snydicates.

Interestingly there was also confusion about the referee from Hungary. While the Bulgarian Football Union and the Estonian Football Association are saying that the match referee was a certain Krisztian Selmeczi, the Hungarian referees' chief Laszlo Wagner and Hungarian media have indicated the referee was Selmeczi's fellow countryman Kolos Lengyel. Until clearance the referee plus his assistants Lengyel and Janos Csak have been suspended.

"FIFA contacted us and requested a full report from the Bulgarian Football Union (BFU) and also said they would receive a report from the Estonian FA," a BFU official who declined to be identified told Reuters.

"We received information of possible manipulation even before the game as the same agency also organised the match between Latvia and Bolivia and there was the same scenario there," Estonia FA spokesman Mihkel Uiboleht told Reuters.

Matthaeus to coach Bulgaria

The Bulgarian Football Union has named former German World Cup winning captain Lothar Matthaeus as their new national coach. The BFU was forced to hunt for a new coach after Stanimir Stoilov resigned from his post earlier this month following defeats against England and Montenegro in the 2012 European Championship qualifiers. And after an internal solution couldn't be made possible the search was expanded to across Europe. In the end Matthaeus was chosen, who has a lot of experience in coaching in eastern Europe.

"Matthaeus will be officially presented in a few days," BFU president Borislav Mihaylov told a news conference on Tuesday, saying that the playing legend had signed a one-year deal with an option for two more years at the helm.

Matthaeus returns to international football coaching with a talented Bulgaria, but they surely aren't as strong as the Bulgaria in the 1990s, the highlight being a semifinal appearance at the 1994 FIFA World Cup in the United States. And the most memorable win came in the quarterfinals, a 2-1 win against then defending champions Germany and Matthaeus not only played that match but scored his last World Cup goal for Germany in that game. Today Bulgarian football has numerous problems and their biggest star Dimitar Berbatov has at least for the moment retired from international football. And this will be something which Matthaeus will try to change.

Matthaeus has coached Hungary at international level besides coaching at various clubs like Rapid Vienna (Austria), Red Bull Salzburg (Austria), Partizan Belgrade (Serbia), Atletico Paranaense (Brazil), and his last stop had been Maccabi Netanya in Israel.

I hope as a friend that Lothar makes it in Bulgaria. He has the necessary football knowledge but his off-field activities and him often ending up in tabloids has not helped his coaching career in Germany, where he still hasn't been able to coach after ending his playing career about a decade back. Matthaeus often says he doesn't get the respect he deserves in Germany and now once more he has the chance to prove himself at international level. All the best Lothar!