JFA looking into Put match fixing case

AMMAN — The Jordan Football Association (JFA) is following up on the case of former SK Lierse coach Paul Put after media reports that he faced two years imprisonment for "match fixing", a JFA official said on Saturday.

Belgian media reports on Thursday said Put faced two years imprisonment for "match fixing" after the Brussels Court of Appeal ruled on the trial round of "match fixing" in Belgian's football 2004-2005 and 2005-2006 seasons.

"The association will issue a statement once it reaches any results," JFA Deputy Chairman Salah Sabra told The Jordan Times.

The JFA announced in June that it had signed Put as the head coach of the national team to a one-year contract starting from July 1.

The verdict issued "harsher punishments than the Criminal Court did in June 2014", according to Het Nieuwsblad, a Belgian newspaper. 

The court also ordered the immediate arrest of the suspect.

Put is considered guilty of corruption for having played a role in the Belgian match fixing affair of 2004 and 2005, the newspaper reported.

The case alleges that Chinese businessman Zheyun Ye, who had invested in clubs with the intention of fixing matches, had asked Put to pay several players at his club to deliberately lose matches.

In its verdict the court also set an 11,000 euro fine and confiscated 50,000 euro from the former trainer, the sum the judge estimated Put received for fixing the matches, added the newspaper.