GFF General Secretary David Mujiri held an emergency press-conference at the Mikheil Meskhi Stadium media centre on 16 September. The main subject on the agenda was the First Division match played between Merani Martvili and Rustavi on 8 September. Based on information obtained from UEFA, attempts had been made to manipulate the outcome of the said game. This was one of the issues on the agenda for the GFF Disciplinary Committee, which had met on 15 September.
The report sent in by UEFA through its betting fraud detection scheme highlights the unusually large sums of money that were bet in live mode on the hosts to win the game, as well as on over 2.5 goals to be scored during the encounter, which went contrary to the flow of the game.
The GFF Sporting Integrity Protection Service appealed to the Disciplinary Committee, which investigated the issue within the scope of its own competency, and produced the following verdict, in accordance with the disciplinary code:
- The result of the 8 September 2016 match between Merani Martvili and Rustavi was annulled, and both teams were credited with a 0:3 defeat.
- Both teams have further been deducted 6 points each.
- Both teams were fined GEL 10 000 each.
Furthermore, the Sporting Integrity Protection Service is presently conducting its own internal investigation into this matter, whereby a team of GFF experts will analyse the match video. Should any new facts come to light, or the guilt of any specific individuals be established during this process, further appeals will be made to the Disciplinary Committee.
As part of the memorandum of cooperation between GFF and the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the case will also be investigated by the MIA within the scope of its competency.
The Georgian Football Federation has also appealed to the Georgian Football Development Fund with the request to suspend the funding for both of the teams in question until the investigation has been concluded.