Sex Mad Referee Gets Red Card

A randy Lebanese football referee has been given a red card after he was caught fixing matches in return for sexual favours. Ali Sabbagh, has been slapped with a lifetime ban by FIFA after agreeing to fix the result an April 2013 match in Singapore in exchange for sex. The Asian Football Confederation had previously banned Sabbagh from refereeing and attending stadiums this month. FIFA also extended previous 10-year bans on Sabbagh’s sexed-up assistants, Ali Eid and Abdallah Taleb, to apply globally.

The move comes as part of a crackdown by footie chiefs following a string of sex-for-fixing scandals. Sabbagh, who had been a FIFA-accredited referee since 2008, and his two fellow whistleblowers received jail sentences of several months from a court in Singapore over the scandal. 

In similar case, FIFA applied a worldwide 14-year-ban on former Slovakia international Ivan Hodur for his involvement in the fixing of top-tier league matches. FIFA also confirmed a 25-year-ban for former DAC 1904 player Marian Dirnbach and an 18-year ban for current player Tomas Huber. FIFA provisionally suspended English semi-professional players Hakeem Adelakun and Michael Boateng, who are facing criminal prosecution, and an unidentified El Salvador national team player.