World Cup Striker Eli Wahy Detained in Alleged Match-Fixing Probe

Ivory Coast forward Eli Wahy has been detained in connection with an alleged match-fixing investigation, according to a dramatic report in The Athletic. The 23-year-old is said to be at the center of an active probe into whether he deliberately picked up a yellow card while playing for Nice against Metz on May 17, less than two weeks before the World Cup began.

Sources told the British outlet that the investigation was triggered after France’s league authorities received several warnings about suspicious betting patterns on that match, including concentrated wagers that Wahy would be booked. In that game, he was shown a yellow card in the 35th minute after a late tackle on Sadibou Sane. Two minutes earlier he had made another challenge on defender Bouna Sarr that did not draw a card, but investigators reportedly believe that foul may also have been intentional.

Wahy was later arrested by French police on May 29, right after scoring twice in Nice’s 4-1 win over Saint-Etienne, a result that kept the club in Ligue 1. He was not charged with any offense and was allowed to travel to the United States for the World Cup. He then started Ivory Coast’s 1-0 win over Ecuador in Philadelphia on Sunday, struck the crossbar in the second half, and is expected to continue playing. Ivory Coast’s next match is against Germany in Toronto on Saturday.

Wahy had been named in Ivory Coast’s World Cup squad on May 15, four days before the Metz match. Born in the suburbs of Paris in 2003, he came through Caen’s academy, broke through at Montpellier in 2020/21, later played for Lens, Marseille and Eintracht Frankfurt, and joined Nice on loan in January. After a goalless first half-season in Germany, he scored five goals in 14 league appearances for Nice to help preserve its top-flight status.