Golden Whistle Blows on Porto President

This story has been rolling around for a while now, but Porto President Jorge Nuno Pinto da Costa will finally strand trial on the charge of bribing a referee before a game in 2004. Da Costa (allegedly) handed referee Augusto Duarte a hefty payday of €2,500 before Porto’s league game against Beira Mar, and was accused way back in the summer of 2007.

Da Costa is among the most high profile suspects Portuguese football’s big campaign to name, shame and hopefully imprison any cheating bastardos, a campaign known as Apito Dourado, or Golden Whistle. Which is an excellent name for a football corruption investigation if you ask me.

Da Costa is a big suspect, but he’s certainly not the only one. A quick look at the Wikipedia entry for Apito Dourado reveals a list of suspects so long, you’ll need a healthy scrolling finger to get through it. The other high profile name on there is Valentim Loureiro, president of the Portuguese Professional Football League.

Rumours of bribery and the like have dogged Da Costa for years now, even more so after his former partner Carolina Salgado published he book Eu, Carolina in which she accused Da Costa of being all kinds of corrupt. Da Costa has faced allegations before, but seems Apito Dourado have a specific case to charge him with this time.

The big irony here is that while Porto had enough quality to win the Champions League in 2004 (the year of Jose Mourinho, Deco, Benni McCarthy etc) they actually drew the allegedly bribery influenced league game against lowly Beira Mar 0-0. If Da Costa is guilty he deserves to do some jailtime, but any jailtime served over a goalless draw against a team who were relegated the following season will probably feel twice as long.

	Soccer Forums	Team/International Results

Category: BWIN Liga, World Football

Tags: Apito Dourado, Augusto Duarte, Beira Mar, BWIN Liga, FC Porto, golden whistle, Jorge Nuno Pinto da Costa, World Football, World Soccer

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