BUCHAREST, March 21: Romanian officials have ruled for the first time that a championship division match was fixed and on Thursday deducted three points from Dinamo Bucharest and Ceahlaul Piatra Neamt.

The Romanian Soccer Federation (FRF) revised the result of the March 9 game — which league leaders Dinamo won 2-1 at Ceahlaul to boost their title chances — to a 3-0 defeat for both teams.

Dinamo had the three points gained from the win deducted, while Ceahlaul were docked three points and fined $2,500.

The revised result cuts Dinamo’s lead over Bucharest rivals National to two points, with the capital’s most famous club Steaua a further two points adrift. Ceahlaul dropped three places to 10th after their three points were deducted.

Sandu, who has run the FRF for the past decade, said he had to accept a share of the blame for failing to stamp out the corruption that is widely believed to be rife in Romanian soccer, but whose existence the FRF had until now denied.

The decision appeared to be on the lenient side.—Reuters