Benfica suspected of corruption to win the 2015-2016 championship – Corriere.it

A case of corruption shakes Portuguese football, already battered on the field by the eliminations in Benfica champions
(0-2 and 3-3 against Inter) and in the Europa League of Sporting Lisbon (0-1 and 1-1 against Juventus). According to an indiscretion from the newspaper Public, Lusitanian sports justice is investigating a suspicious episode. A case that would concern the aforementioned Benfica. It would be a story already known to ordinary justice which had decided to start the investigation. Furthermore, there would also be suspects. The main one would be the entrepreneur Cesar Boaventura, who, according to the indictment, would have tried to convince some players of the Rio Ave and Maritimo (club of the Portuguese championship) to favor the opponent, Benfica, in the direct clashes during the 2015-16 championship. Tournament ended with the victory of the team coached by Roger Schmidt for the third time in a series of five championships won in a row.

According to complaints from some players, Boaventura he would have promised 80,000 euros to anyone who got a yellow card in the first half and caused a penalty in the second. Frenchman Salin, Maritimo goalkeeper at the time, would have been promised a richer contract in another international team. Some of the players involved even asked not to play to prevent an error on the pitch from being considered fraudulent and, therefore, risking repercussions. The entrepreneur would not be new to all this: in the same period he was indicted in another trial, on charges of tax fraud, fraud and money laundering, also in the football field.

Boaventura has often admitted that he is a man very close to Luis Filipe Vieira (Benfica president until 2021, who had resigned due to some accusations against him), even if over time no link has ever been proven between the entrepreneur and the top management of Portuguese training.