Nigeria Decides That 79-0 And 67-0 Soccer Matches May Have Been Fixed

Two amateur teams, seeking promotion to the third and lowest tier of Nigerian professional soccer, were tied on points heading into the deciding matches. They would need to win on goal differential to move up. They won their matches by a combined 146 goals.

Today, the Nigerian Football Federation ruled that there had been "a fraudulent conspiracy among the teams," and dropped the hammer on all four teams involved. Every single player, coach, trainer, and referee was banned for life.

"While the winners were desperate to win, the losers were too willing to lose," the federation said. "Circumstantial evidence was overwhelmingly high and points to only one conclusion, of match-fixing of an unprecedented nature, which has brought global embarrassment to the Nigeria Football Federation, in particular, and the nation in general."

Strong words, from a nation where nearly every match at every level is "fixed" to some extent. Just usually not so comically.