South African club given lifetime ban after scoring 41 own goals during match

Four clubs in South Africa’s fourth tier have been given life-time bans after fixing games in a bid to win the league, per the BBC.

Some incredible scorelines emerged at the back end of last month with Matiyasi FC and Shivulani Dangerous Tigers battling for the title.

Shivulani actually led by three points and had a superior 16-goal difference going into the final day. All they had to do was win.

They got the result they needed as they recorded a resounding 33-1 victory over Kotoko Happy Boys.

Incredibly, Matiyasi outdid their title rivals as they beat third-placed Nsami Mighty Birds 59-1.

“Our investigation found that Matiyasi and Nsami wanted to stop Shivulani from topping the league so they agreed on fixing the match to prevent this from happening,” Vincent Ramphago, president of the Mopani region, told BBC Sport Africa.

“After hearing that Matiyasi were leading 22-0 at half-time, Shivulani colluded to remove Kotoko Happy Boys players from the field. The players who came off said they were tired leaving their team with only seven players.

“In the Matiyasi game meanwhile, the referee gave players red cards so that Nsami ended up with seven players.”

South African lower division side Matiyasi FC