Why an Investigation Did Not Keep Willy from the World Cup
Ivorian striker Eli Wahy was arrested on May 29 in Marseille over a suspicious yellow card, yet he still played in the World Cup because he was never formally charged. The case centers on suspected spot-fixing, the manipulation of a specific in-game event, rather than fixing the outcome of an entire match.
Wahy, who was developed in France, is on loan at Nice from Eintracht Frankfurt and chose to represent Ivory Coast, his father’s homeland, at the tournament. He was detained just two weeks before his national team’s first World Cup match, then questioned and released without charges, though the investigation remains open. French investigators believe the key incident was a yellow card he received in a 0-0 draw with Metz in the final league round, a match in which Metz had already been relegated and Nice was fighting to avoid the relegation playoff. Wahy’s booking, his fifth of the season, triggered an automatic suspension that ruled him out of Nice’s first playoff game against Saint-Etienne.
After receiving several alerts about unusually heavy betting on that specific yellow card, France’s league body, the LFP, passed the information to police, the regulator and the football federation, and filed its own criminal complaint alleging possible sports corruption and organized fraud. The case is being handled by JIRS, France’s specialized courts for organized crime and complex financial offenses. Officials say the case points to a wider criminal network, but they still must prove Wahy was part of it, which is why he remains only a suspect.
Canada initially blocked Wahy from entering for Ivory Coast’s second group match against Germany in Toronto because his visa application said he was under investigation for links to organized crime. After requesting more information, Canadian officials allowed him in, citing the presumption of innocence. The article also notes similar World Cup cases involving Thomas Partey, who was denied entry to Canada while awaiting trial in England on rape and sexual assault charges, and Lucas Paqueta, who was charged in England over alleged deliberate yellow cards before ultimately being cleared. Ivan Toney is also in the tournament after an eight-month ban for gambling offenses, though not for match manipulation.
