Apito Dourado

The Apito Dourado (English: Golden Whistle) affair is a sports corruption scandal in Portuguese football that first arose in 2004. Portuguese Judiciary Police (Polícia Judiciária) investigators named several football personalities as suspects (arguidos) of corrupting or attempting to corrupt referees, including Jorge Nuno Pinto da Costa, chairman of FC Porto,[1][2] and the former Boavista F.C. chairman and Portuguese League for Professional Football President Valentim Loureiro.[3] Although less notorious, a major part of the affair involved lower division referees and clubs, namely UD Sousense and Gondomar S.C., and club officials.

In December 2006, Pinto da Costa's former partner Carolina Salgado published the book Eu, Carolina ("Me, Carolina"), in which she made serious accusations against him. Pinto da Costa called these accusations "absurd" and said he would address them in court.[4] Salgado's book caused the two cases in which Pinto da Costa was involved that had already been dismissed to be re-opened.[5]

In March 2008, Porto's Tribunal de Instrução Criminal decided that one of these cases, concerning a match between FC Porto and Beira-Mar where Pinto da Costa delivered an envelope containing €2,500 to a referee, would proceed to trial.[6] The other major case involving FC Porto and Pinto da Costa, regarding a match between FC Porto and Estrela da Amadora, where FC Porto offered prostitutes to the match referees, was dismissed for the second time in June 2008 and the main accusation witness, Salgado, accused of perjury.[7]

In July 2008, Valentim Loureiro was found guilty of abuse of power but not guilty of corruption. He was sentenced to three years and two months of suspended jail time.[8]

In May 2008, the disciplinary committee of the Portuguese Professional Football League, who had opened a parallel non-criminal proceeding called Apito Final (Final Whistle), sentenced Pinto da Costa to a two-year suspension and FC Porto was docked six points in the Primeira Liga and fined €150,000 for attempted bribery;[9] Boavista FC was sentenced to relegation for bribery and referee coercion, and fined €180,000; União de Leiria lost three points and its chairman, João Bartolomeu, was sentenced to a one-year suspension.[10] FC Porto recovered those points in July 2017.[11]

In January and October 2010, many of the Apito Dourado wiretaps were uploaded to YouTube.[12]

  1. ^ Vernet-Riera, Josep (21 January 2010). "FC Porto: Leaked Phone Taps Proof in Major Corruption Scandal". Bleacher Report.
  2. ^ "Police raid HQ of European champions(paid refs) Porto". ABC Sport. AFP. 3 December 2004. Archived from the original on 4 December 2004. Retrieved 15 September 2017.
  3. ^ "Portugal football bosses arrested". BBC News. 20 April 2004. Retrieved 15 September 2017.
  4. ^ "Pinto da Costa não comenta acusações" [Pinto da Costa does not comment accusations]. TSF (in Portuguese). 12 December 2006. Archived from the original on 13 September 2012. Retrieved 15 September 2017.
  5. ^ Gomes, Joaquim; Rita, Pedro (9 December 2006). "Carolina Salgado testemunha da Judiciária" [Carolina Salgado - Judiciária's witness]. Correio da Manhã (in Portuguese). Archived from the original on 28 September 2007. Retrieved 15 September 2017.
  6. ^ Pontes, Carlos; Ferris, Ken (25 March 2008). "Soccer-Porto president to stand trial for alleged bribery". Reuters. Archived from the original on September 16, 2017. Retrieved 15 September 2017.
  7. ^ Cabrita, Felícia (30 June 2008). "Pinto da Costa não vai a julgamento e Carolina Salgado acusada de falsas declarações" [Pinto da Costa will not go to trial and Carolina Salgado accused of false statements]. Sol (in Portuguese). Archived from the original on 22 September 2008. Retrieved 15 September 2017.
  8. ^ "Valentim condenado a três anos e dois meses de prisão com pena suspensa por abuso de poder" [Valentim sentenced to two years and two months of suspended jail time for abuse of power]. TSF (in Portuguese). 18 July 2008. Archived from the original on 3 December 2008. Retrieved 15 September 2017.
  9. ^ "Porto not admitted to Champions League". UEFA. 4 June 2008. Retrieved 15 September 2017.
  10. ^ "FC Porto perde seis pontos" [FC Porto lose six points]. UEFA (in Portuguese). 9 May 2008. Retrieved 15 September 2017.
  11. ^ "Justiça desportiva iliba Pinto da Costa no caso Apito Final" [Sports justice exonerates Pinto da Costa in the Apito Final affair]. Jornal de Negócios (in Portuguese). 15 July 2017. Retrieved 15 September 2017.
  12. ^ "YouTube volta a revelar 'segredos' do futebol" [YouTube reveals football 'secrets' once again]. Correio da Manhã (in Portuguese). 3 October 2010. Archived from the original on 5 October 2010. Retrieved 15 September 2017.