Brazilian clubs look to FIFA to overturn ruling

Three of the big Brazilian clubs (champs Santos, Internacional and Cruzeiro) want to ask FIFA to solve the problem of the match-fixing scandal. They are hoping FIFA will overturn the ruling of Brazil's Superior Tribunal of Sports Justice. Their point to the context of the law as reason. As told by Internacional lawyer Daniel Cravo de Souza, "the results only can be annulled if there is strong evidence of fraud. And it's clear that not all matches were fixed."

Here is how the teams protesting have done in the replays:

"Cruzeiro, the 2003 national champion, had two victories reversed by the decision. It drew Botafogo 2-2 after originally winning 4-1, and lost 4-1 to Paysandu in a match it had won 2-1.

Santos felt it was harmed by the ruling after its 4-2 win over rival Corinthians was reversed. It lost the replayed match 3-2.

Internacional had a 3-2 win over Coritiba voided, but the teams are yet to replay the match."

I've seen it before and I will say it again, there is no way this season will be remembered in any good way. When you have the possibility of outside influences on the game, no one will respect the results. If you reply all those possible matches, you are going to end up be punishing teams who did nothing wrong.

I'm going to guess FIFA will want to stay away from this as long as possible, but I think it will end up there at some point.