The National Police arrested this Tuesday Kike Salas, a Sevilla player, for allegedly causing him to be shown yellow cards in First Division matches so that people around him could win money with sports bets. A court in Morón de la Frontera (Seville) is investigating the footballer for an alleged crime of fraud, according to what was announced The Confidential and has been able to confirm this diary. “The club was not aware of this fact. “This morning the police took the player to testify and we are waiting for events,” sources from Sevilla’s solvency have told Morning Express. Kike Salas, a 22-year-old homegrown defender who was recently renewed until 2029, is at his home after the agents showed up at the sports city to take him to give a statement at the conclusion of the first team’s training session. He was released pending the judge’s summons as an investigator. The footballer took advantage of his right not to testify. He handed over the cell phone to the court to be cloned after a complaint that was made approximately a month ago. LaLiga will appear as an accusation in this process so that everything is clarified. Two more people have also been arrested. Investigators suspect that friends and family of the footballer would have participated in around 30 rigged bets in six establishments in Morón de la Frontera and would have obtained profits of around 10,000 euros in one month.
As this newspaper has been able to confirm, the defender allegedly agreed with several friends that he would force yellow cards in official LaLiga matches so that they would place bets knowing in advance what was going to happen on the field of play. It is an investigation by the National Police Center for Integrity in Sports and Betting (Cenpida, attached to the Central Specialized and Violent Crime Unit), specialized in this type of crime. For now, it focuses on several matches from the final phase of last First Division season. Specifically, as confirmed by the police to this newspaper, these are the last eight days of last season (between matchday 30 and 38), in which the player saw seven yellow cards (almost one yellow card per game). The last days of the season are the moments that police experts consider most prone to rigging, since many teams are no longer playing and there is a risk that footballers will lend themselves to these frauds. Sevilla, after having a very bad time throughout the season, reached this phase of the calendar almost safe from all danger after defeating Getafe on March 30 (0-1). In fact, the Andalusian club lost consecutively in the last four days of the League (defeats against Villareal, Cádiz, Athletic and Barcelona). Salas was reprimanded in all of them, and saw a total of 10 yellow cards in the 2023-24 season.
Kike Salas had been playing as a left back for Sevilla although he generally works as a central defender due to the problems the team has in that position. The Sevilla team plays next Saturday at 2:00 p.m. against Girona and everything indicates that the defender will not be in the duel against the Catalans. Salas debuted in the 22-23 season with Sevilla’s first team and was then loaned to Tenerife in the second round of that season. He returned to the Sevilla team, where he played a total of 25 games last season. In the current campaign he has played 16 games between the League and the Cup.
