Forum Poster “Leaks” The Champions League Draw 90 Minutes Before It Happens

By: chris | March 14th, 2008

This is so ridiculous it’s borderline laughable, but the facts are coming through and they’re looking quite tempting. An internet poster on the Liverpool Echo forum came in over 90 minutes before the draw was to happen in Nyon and proclaimed that rumor was floating that the draw had been fixed…..and then ran off the draw as it happened after 1pm Swiss time. Cue pandemonium. Now, some sizable news outlets are picking up on the story and wondering the same thing: Was the Champions League draw fixed? (forum post after the jump)

Here’s what the internet poster had to say at 10:28am today:

Rumour going around draw has been leaked….. this is no doubt rubbish but if Rumour is true it’s LFC – arsenal and Chelsea – fenerbache and manure v roma
No bookies will take bets on the draw either

There is a chance that this guy/gal could’ve done the same thing on a number of internet boards with different scenarios and happen to hit the one on the Liverpool Echo. There’s also the chance this is a really, really big coincidence (with odds of 119/1). What it’s not is good for UEFA, who not too long ago required a probe for 15 games under suspicion of being fixed. Their status is far from “squeaky clean” – same goes for European football.

The more major news outlets pick it up the more we’ll hear about it, and it’ll surely require some sort of an investigation (I can already hear Sepp Bletter getting ready to say something stupid). Until then, it’s a whole lot of speculation.

But damn, let’s hope the games are as dramatic as the draw.

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Category: Champions League

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Marci

saying that the competition has been rigged is ridiculous.....people guess the or and even who wins in tournaments accross the whole spectrum of the sporting world....if someone can perfectly predict who wins all of the games in the NCAA tournament (which holds 65 teams and 64 games) then i dont see why someone wouldnt be able to guess the order and fixtures of 8 teams THINK ABOUT IT.....heres a prediction Arsenal in the finals against Barca all over again with Barca winning in the same fashion as 06....SCREW LIVERPOOL
nas

all draws are rigged in my opinion...is it just me or does it seem that in all international draws the host nation somehow usually ends up with the easiest group and with this draw they want a big money making english team in the finals
vtec

i am pretty sure that that is exactly what platini proposed, that no country have more than 3 teams in the competition.
SFDon

I'm convinced these draws are all rigged too....I can see your point Cem, but if Platini doesn't want 4 english (or any other nations) teams in the semis he shouldn't let any country have 4 teams in the competition.
I've started reading this blog regularly and am sadly starting to believe that most football is corrupt, not just the diddley eastern european countries....

http://footballisfixed.blogspo...
Cem ARGUN

Well there's this hot&cold draw balls issue. So fixing a draw might be possible without a permanent mark or color difference on the balls.

If there's a fixed draw. I think only UEFA can be held responsible. Imagine for once, the highly probable all Brit / "Premier League beats Champions League" semi-finals. UEFA would lose tremendous money and credibility in a scenario where Premier League dominating the last two sequence of the Champions League. Spain, Italy, Germany pissed off, lost TV ratings, angry sponsors for not reaching enough global audiences... Platini's nightmare! So if he draw is fixed, it's fixed for the good of the Champions League... The intention behind shouldn't be for one or more team's favor. That might also be the reason it's leaked.
kirby

maybe whoever fixed the matches fixed it in such a way that it would be easier to manipulate the match referee. maybe uefa sets out a list of refs to ref the games before hand. if someone knew this they could set up the draw in a way which they could get their ref to ref the game. you never know *COUGH*Inter - Liverpool*COUGH*
Ak

Jeez people, the chance of picking the correct q/f draws is 1 in 105 (just less than 1%), which no competent statistician would regard as statistically significant.
Adam

I've assumed for quite a few years that all football competition draws are rigged. Isn't the prem supposed to be random too, even though it has those big four weekends?
john

If it was rigged, I'd guess they were trying to set up (or at least make possible / more likely) a quarter finals which included the teams with the most supporters, i.e. Man U, Chelsea, Liverpool/Arsenal, and Barcelona. Maximize the dolla dolla bills the games can generate. (or Eura Eura Euros, or whatever.)
Muddia Beduddia

I'd think you would want to avoid immediate rematches like Roma-Man-U. Especially with what happened last year. That said, I think this is a MUCH different (and better) Roma squad and think it'll be fun to watch.
Anthony

I'd have one of the states lotteries draw it, you can pretty much guarantee that a majority would have absolutely no interest in the outcome.
Alessio

On a side note, Chris, damn. CL, Italy, and Roma blogs? You're a machine.
Alessio

if anyone got fucked, it was roma. if you make it to the end....it's going to be a rough road.

barca+chelsea get another bye.
vtec

the bookies would stop taking bets on an event, and would even cancel existing bets, if they received a disproportionate amount of bets on a particular event, not necessarily because they got tipped that the draw was rigged. so if this is true, then many people must have known about this leak and put money on it. i suspect that the reason why uefa would rig its draws would be to create match-ups that would generate the most viewer interest, engaging as many neutral viewers as possible.
Shazback

chris : and Man U, Roma, Barça and Shalke fight out for the other place in the final...

I'm happy to see rome again. I mean, they're good, but I'm sure we can beat them. And Barça. And Arsenal. In that order.
ilcapitano

Exactly what I though Chris...
chris

Another aspect: The English quarter final draw, with Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool and freakin' Fenerbahce fighting for one finals spot. Nearly guarantees one English team in the final.
Matt

Daryl, it seems that bookies were taking bets before on the draw, so someone trying to make a killing by betting? Or maybe UEFA and the TV big wigs trying to get an all England Quarter, though if that were the case you think they would have gone with Man U-Liverpool haha, but I suppose both Man U and Roma players and supporters might be looking forward to seeing each other again...
Daryl

The other question is: who stands to gain from the draw being rigged?
areallaticfromthesouth

HAD Man Utd and Chelsea reached the S/F of the FA CUP. would the draw been fixed? Barnsley and Portsmouth were kept apart... get my drift?
chris

I actually think this guy's predictions are the least of the worries. The big worry is the bookies, whether or not they'd really shut down betting because this was rumored to be the draw.
sretle

"But damn, let’s hope the games are as dramatic as the draw."
that may as well be the new motto.
forza rome