"Get yellow cards for £30,000" - Sam Sodje Arrested After Filmed 'admitting they fix matches for betting fraudsters'

Police have now arrested six people in connection with a second investigation into football spot-fixing following allegations that a player rigged a Championship game in return for cash.

The National Crime Agency (NCA) acted after ex-Premier League footballer Sam Sodje was filmed bragging that he can arrange for professional footballers to get yellow cards or even sent off in return for cash.

The Sun on Sunday handed over information on Sodje, gathered over a period of four months by an undercover reporter posing as a middleman for a betting syndicate based in the Far East.

In the video, 34-year-old Nigerian defender Sodje brags that he can arrange for a player to get themselves booked for a £30,000 pay-out, and that he could guarantee certain events in play in return for money.

Fraudsters can capitalise on this through in-game betting, where they put large bets on incidents like red and yellow cards, penalties and even corner kicks.

In the video recorded by an undercover reporter from the Sun on Sunday, Sodje claimed he fixed it for an ex-Premier League player, who now plays in the Championship, to get a yellow card and can even organise similar such events in Premier League games - for a much greater price because of the huge fines for players at that level.

Sodje, who played for Portsmouth and also in the top flight at Reading, even said he was preparing to fix matches at next year's World Cup in Brazil.

An NCA spokeswoman said: 'An active NCA investigation is now underway and we are working closely with the Football Association and the Gambling Commission.

In the Sun on Sunday footage, Sodje said it was child's play for a player to get a yellow card, as they are so common no one suspects anything is amiss and the player can continue playing afterwards.

He said: 'This guy came to meet me at my house and it was sorted. That's how easy it is - it's nothing.'

Sodje and his brother Stephen claimed they could even get players sent off - an event which can cripple a team's chances in a game - for between £50,000 and £70,000.
He said he could set up a bet an entire week before a game, while his brother warned the reporter not to pay one player rumoured to be involved in fixing matches because the sportsman was already under scrutiny.

Sodje spoke of a meeting a Premiership player in a Manchester hotel room, as well as at the home of another to discuss a potential fix.  The footage also shows him admitting punching an opponent in the groin to get sent off for a £70,000 pay-out.

Sodje admitted punching Oldham Athletic's Jose Baxter twice in the groin to get sent off (pictured)

He said: 'Do you know how much I got fined? I got fined ten grand and I missed six games.' He said he had to launch the bizarre attack, which his then-manager at Portsmouth, Guy Whittingham, described as 'inexcusable', as the referee had not been booking him for tackling.

Spotting his chance after a tackle by Baxter, Sodje ran up to his opponent and punched him in the crotch - to the shock of spectators.

Sodje also boasted that having pocketed £70,000 from the gambling ring, even after his £10,000 fine he was still £60,000 better off.

In the video, Sodje also claimed that another of his brother's Akpo, 33, who plays for Tranmere Rovers in League One, would get booked in each of his next six games in exchange for cash.

He said that the brothers were trying to prepare for a life after football.

"We take the issue of integrity very seriously and will continue in our efforts to eradicate this evil from our game," The Professional Footballers' Association (PFA).

Sodje with his Evening Standard Footballer of the Month winner for February 2005