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Elye Wahi Arrested Over Match-Fixing Allegations

Thursday, June 18, 2026
5 min read
Elye Wahi Arrested Over Match-Fixing Allegations

Elye Wahi, that Ivory Coast forward who’s representing his country at the 2026 World Cup he got arrested less than two weeks before the tournament. The reason? Allegations of match-fixing . That came out in The Athletic on Wednesday.

Sources say he's now the subject of this whole ongoing probe. Investigators are digging into whether he deliberately got a yellow card while playing for Nice against Metz back on May 17th. It’s a messy situation.

Wahi was actually arrested by French police on May 29th. That happened shortly after he scored twice in that big win for Nice over Saint-Etienne, which helped the club keep their Ligue 1 spot going for another season. A strange timing, isn't it?

But even while this investigation was happening, Wahi still made it to the United States for the World Cup. He started Ivory Coast’s one-goal victory over Ecuador in Philadelphia on Sunday. He actually came close to getting on the scoresheet there too. Striking the crossbar in the second half. Ivory Coast then had to face Germany in Toronto on Saturday.

Then there's the official confirmation from France. A spokesperson for the Marseille Public Prosecutor’s Office talked to The Athletic on Tuesday about the arrest. They confirmed that a 23-year-old Ligue 1 footballer had been detained on May 29th. The investigation looked into things like organized fraud, sports corruption, handling criminal proceeds, and money laundering.

They basically said they are looking at some serious stuff.

“We can confirm that a football player competing in France’s Ligue 1 was arrested on May 29,” the spokesperson told The Athletic . “This is part of an investigation opened by the Marseille public prosecutor’s office into allegations of organized fraud, organized sports corruption, handling of proceeds of crime and money laundering.”

He added something about his status then. “He was released after he was interviewed in police custody. The investigations remain ongoing. He isn't even a member of the French selection taking part in the World Cup.”

It seems the root of this whole mess started with betting. Multiple sources suggest the investigation kicked off because the LFP that’s the governing body for professional football in France got alerts about suspicious betting activity during that specific match against Metz. The wagers, apparently, were all focused on Wahi getting that yellow card.

It falls under what they call spot-fixing . Manipulating just one event within a game, not the whole result. A slippery kind of corruption.

Written by Gree News Team — Senior Editorial Board

Gree News Team covers international news and global affairs at Gree News. Our collective of senior editors is dedicated to providing independent, accurate, and responsible journalism for a global audience.

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