Tom Beugelsdijk has accepted a settlement proposal from the independent professional football prosecutor. The 31-year-old defender has been suspended for five games, two of which are conditionally due to online gambling on Eredivisie matches, the KNVB has announced. However, an investigation by the KNVB’s Integrity Inquiry Committee has revealed no indications that Beugelsdijk has engaged in match fixing.
The football association writes that Beugelsdijk was heard because of the investigation and it was subsequently established that he made various bets via an online provider during the 2013/14 to 2020/21 seasons. It would concern matches in the Eredivisie, TOTO KNVB Cup and/or Supercup, in which he was active as a player on behalf of ADO Den Haag and Sparta.
Beugelsdijk would also have bet on the Eredivisie match between FC Groningen and ADO Den Haag on March 17, 2019, in which he had some degree of influence (directly or indirectly). Beugelsdijk was under contract with ADO at the time, but was not part of the match selection at that time. Professional football regulations explicitly criminalize betting on matches in ‘own’ competitions, in order to safeguard the integrity of football, but also to prevent the appearance of influence, partiality and bias. read the KNVB.
The Rotterdam police intercepted Tom Beugelsdijk for a long time during telephone conversations last year and also observed them, the police reported. NOS in April. The currently transfer-free defender was suspected of match fixing, but the Public Prosecution Service announced on Friday that the case will be dropped due to lack of evidence.
The investigation into the alleged match fixing revolved around a yellow card that Beugelsdijk may have taken deliberately. The defender floored his opponent Noni Madueke during the Sparta – PSV (3-5) match on January 16, 2021, for which he was ejected. The action was extra suspicious because there seemed to be no immediate reason to commit the violation. That way, no impending attack was interrupted.
The well-known online gambling company Unibet sounded the alarm at the Public Prosecution Service after these findings, because it was determined that two large amounts had been bet at the betting office on a yellow card for Beugelsdijk in that particular match. This is particularly striking, because yellow cards are usually not a popular category with the bookmakers. The NOS established in its own investigation that the bets came from two different people, who could be linked to Beugelsdijk.
One of the gamblers is a supporter from the hard core of ADO Den Haag, known to the police, who bet 3,000 euros on the card in question, and thus won 13,000 euros. The other gambler, from the Tilburg area, specially created an account with Unibet to bet on the card. That last person won 1,000 euros. Both gamblers turned out to know each other and meet regularly at a location in The Hague, where Beugelsdijk is also sometimes seen. However, Beugelsdijk, who comes from the Hofstad and still lives there, denied knowing the gamblers personally.
All the facts added together gave the Public Prosecution Service the strong suspicion that Beugelsdijk had deliberately taken the card to earn money from it: match fixing. A major investigation was set up, in which Beugelsdijk was tapped, but the Public Prosecution Service was unable to demonstrate that agreements had been made between Beugelsdijk and the gamblers concerned.