Thursday, January 20, 2022 at 12:01 PM• Rian Rosendaal

FIFA has banned Pawel Cibicki from playing football for four years. The Swedish attacker with Polish roots is according to Aftonbladet found guilty of match fixing. The 28-year-old player, with a short-lived past at ADO Den Haag, made a mistake in 2019 when he was under contract with IF Elfsborg. He took money at the time to deliberately take a yellow card.

Cibicki, who has been playing for the Polish Pogon Szczecin since 2020, himself indicated that it was a loan and that he is completely innocent. However, FIFA does not believe this reading and therefore imposes a suspension of no less than four years. Cibicki already received the same penalty at an earlier stage by the Swedish Football Association. The bribery case has recently received a lot of attention in the Swedish media. It is not known exactly how much was paid to the attacker.

Prosecutor Christine Stridsberg has no pity for Cibicki. “We are satisfied with the punishment, although we did not expect otherwise given the seriousness of the violation. It is now very easy to go to another country to avoid your punishment,” it sounds in conversation with SVT Sports. In addition to Cibicki, two suspects have been banned for six years, one of whom played for Sweden’s futsal team in the past. The convicts can still appeal to the national sports council in Sweden. Should this body rule differently than the Swedish Football Association, it is possible that FIFA will undo Cibicki’s suspension.

Cibicki was attached to ADO on a rental basis in the 2019/20 season. However, it was not a resounding success, because the attacker made only three appearances in total: three in the Eredivisie and one in the TOTO KNVB Cup. In January 2020, the lease deal with Leeds United was permanently terminated. Cibicki was also loaned out by the English club to Molde FK and Elfsborg. In the summer of 2020 he left for Pogon Szczecin.