Ivory Coast World Cup Forward Detained in Match-Fixing Probe

Ivory Coast striker Eli Wahi has been detained in France on suspicion of match-fixing, according to a report by The Athletic cited in Hebrew outlet Sport 5. The 23-year-old is said to be at the center of an active investigation into whether he deliberately took a yellow card while playing for Nice in a league match against Metz on May 17.

Sources linked to the case said the probe began after French league officials received multiple alerts about suspicious betting patterns around that game, including concentrated wagers that Wahi would be booked. In that match, Wahi was shown a yellow card in the 35th minute for a late tackle on Sadibou Sané. Two minutes earlier he had made another challenge on defender Bouna Sarr, which did not draw a card but is also believed to be relevant to the inquiry.

Wahi was arrested by French police on May 29, immediately after scoring twice in Nice’s 4-1 win over Saint-Etienne in the second leg of the relegation playoff. That victory kept Nice in France’s top division. Despite the arrest, he was later allowed to travel to the United States for the World Cup, and on Sunday in Philadelphia he started Ivory Coast’s 1-0 win over Ecuador, also hitting the crossbar in the second half.

No charges have been filed against him, and the investigation is ongoing. Wahi, who was named in Ivory Coast’s World Cup squad on May 15, is scheduled to play Germany in Toronto on Saturday. He previously represented France at youth level before switching allegiance to Ivory Coast in March. Born near Paris in 2003, he came through Caen’s academy, broke into Ligue 1 with Montpellier in 2020/21, later played for Lens and Marseille, and joined Eintracht Frankfurt at the start of last season before moving on loan to Nice in January, where he scored five goals in 14 league appearances.