Former Super Eagles midfielder facing jail term for alleged match-fixing

Former Super Eagles player, Dickson Etuhu, will go on trial in a Swedish court on Thursday, to face a charge of match-fixing, Reuters reports.

Etuhu played at the 2010 World Cup for Nigeria and had a lengthy career in England for Manchester City, Preston North End, Norwich, Sunderland, Fulham and Blackburn Rovers, before moving to play in Sweden.

He is charged with trying to bribe a goalkeeper to fix the result of a league match between his former side, Stockholm’s AIK and IFK Gothenburg.

The game was due to be played on May 18, 2017, but was postponed after goalkeeper Kenny Stamatopoulos told AIK he had been approached by Etuhu and another man with a view to fixing the game.

Etuhu has said his former teammate must have misunderstood the conversation.

“I respect everyone’s opinion, but the facts remain the same – it never happened … It’s unbelievable that an ordinary conversation with a friend can lead to something like this,” Etuhu told Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter.

The offence of gross bribery carries a maximum sentence of six years in prison.