League scandal: Unión Magdalena manager accuses player of alleged match-fixing; player defends himself, 'they want to cover one thing up with another'

The specter of alleged match-fixing in Colombian football has resurfaced, just as the round-robin phase is nearing its end. The club implicated is Unión Magdalena, a team already relegated to the second division for 2026, whose president has accused a player of possible involvement in betting. The player in question is Héctor Urrego, who has defended himself against the accusations and denied them.

The Santa Marta team faced Deportes Tolima last Thursday, and Urrego was sent off. The defender was accused of betting on the match by the club's president, Eduardo Dávila , who alleged that he had deliberately gotten himself sent off.

"Right now we're looking into what happened with the young man, Héctor Urrego, which is very serious. His expulsion has left us with many questions. There are rumors circulating about him, and we're already conducting an investigation ," the director told Zona Libre de Humo.

In response to the accusation, Urrego spoke with Blu Radio and expressed his surprise at Dávila's statements, revealing that he will take legal action regarding the accusation.

"Without proof, you can't accuse someone. My game has always been characterized by being strong and temperamental. Against Águilas Doradas, I went for the same tackle, and my foot got caught, which is where I got injured. It's a play I often make. This time, I did the same thing, but since the field wasn't in good condition, I raised my leg, and it looked awkward so it wouldn't get stuck. There was nothing strange or wrong; it's what I always do. Everything was normal; we went for the ball, and then the referee made that decision, but that's all," he said about the play that led to his expulsion.

And then he addressed Dávila's comments: "It has nothing to do with betting or anything like that. My record is impeccable; I've been playing since I was 14. You can ask anyone, and I never show that kind of behavior. I always go in hard and give it my all. If he saw me playing like that and didn't like it, then he shouldn't have hired me, that's all. With this game, I've now played 15 games, so why didn't he say anything to me in the previous ones, when I was also booked? It was a play where a player had an off day, that's all. That can happen to anyone, and it happened to me."

Later, Urrego mentioned that he only had one bad day and revealed that there were indeed strange things happening in the first half of the year regarding alleged match-fixing: "Nobody wants to get sent off. Fortunately, I had a bad day, and they want to judge me for the things that happened in the first half of the year, where out of 20 games, they only won one. That's why we're where we are. In the first part of the year, there were strange things, where even my teammates knew something was going on. Things aren't like that, and I really invite them to investigate, to see if I've done anything wrong. I don't go along with that kind of thing, since it has tarnished football, and I never have and never will agree with it."

Finally, the player stated that he would speak with the manager and considered the accusations unfair: "I'm going to call him and clear everything up because I think it's disrespectful. There are many teammates who are playing for important things, and when they were sent off, nothing happened, but now that Héctor Urrego was sent off, suddenly they're pointing fingers. Since the team has already been relegated, they want to judge and cover one thing up with another. Things aren't like that. I don't like that this happened, and it's unfair that they're handling everything this way. I don't know why they're judging or pointing fingers at me. The team was relegated for other reasons, not because of this kind of nonsense."