During the 2020 season, Joakim Amri Nilsson has refereed 14 matches in the Allsvenskan (all as assistant referee), the first on 17 June 2020 and the last on 13 September 2020. At the end of September 2020, SvFF received information from Svenska Spel that Joakim Amri Nilsson has entered into betting on matches in the Allsvenskan through the game form "Oddset". He entered over 80 bets: two of them were so-called “single play”, while the others were combination games (i.e. winnings provided for "Correct" results in all matches). His bets on matches in the Allsvenskan have amounted to a total of approximately SEK 12,000. No part of the betting has been for matches that Joakim Amri Nilsson himself has refereed. Given the large amount of what Joakim Amri Nilsson has included, it is excluded that the unlawful betting would have been done through negligence. It is aggravating that there was a large number of bets, while the betting has been going on for a significant period and was intended for a significant amount. In addition, special consideration should be given to the fact that Joakim Amri Nilsson has been active as a referee in the highest possible league level in Sweden, which means that the offences are particularly damaging to the trust in the integrity of sport. Joakim Amri Nilsson has admitted that he did what he is accused of and accepted the sanction. (Source: SVFF)
The trial against the accused elite assistant referee began on Tuesday in the Gothenburg District Court. Among the six plaintiffs, there are several women with whom the referee is said to have begun relationships. One of the women is a football referee. The accused man contacted her in connection with a training at the Swedish Football Association in February 2017. During the questioning by the police, the female referee says how the accused man started asking for money early on via the Snapchat app, where messages disappear after they have been sent. "He is incredibly manipulative, so he always had very good reasons why he needed money. He often said it was for the children", she says during interrogation. His desire for large transactions will soon increase. During the summer of 2017, for example, she went to Gothenburg. "Before the trip to Gothenburg, he said that he had a friend who worked at Scandic. I would pay him and then he would reserve a hotel, so everything would be ready. But just when I got to town, he called me and said that it was a misunderstanding because his friend had booked a hotel room a month later. So when I got off the train, I had no hotel to stay at. Afterwards, I realized that it was a lie. There was probably no friend”, she declared to police. “It was travel here and there. There has been talk of trips to the Maldives, also a surprise that he would arrange for me at the Falkenbergs Spa”. She also says that several planned meetings were canceled on short notice. "He always said that there was something wrong with the children. That they are going to training or that they have become ill. It was hard for me to get angry if he said the child is sick. There is nothing you can influence.” She soon became suspicious, but then, according to the prosecution, transferred close to SEK 200,000 to the accused man. Unlike several of the other persons who are plaintiffs; however, the female referee colleague gets her money back - and interest - after threatening the accused man with contacting the Elite Referees Club, the organization of Swedish elite football referees. In several text messages, she warned the now accused referee - until he starts sending money back. "Never threaten me again," he replied in a message.
In February 2020, the association held a referee training. The woman says that she then requested a meeting with the Head Referee Stefan Johannesson and the Referees Committee chairman Peter Ekström to tell them about her experiences. She says that, at the same time, she becomes aware that the accused man had rental cars for which he invoiced the Swedish Football Association SEK 90,000 - despite the fact that they were used privately. "We were actually supposed to have a fitness test on Friday, but I did not have the strength. I did not have the energy. Instead, we had a meeting with these two people (Ekström and Johannesson), where I got to tell about everything I went through. The Head Referee confirmed that the accused referee had invoiced SvFF for rental cars for SEK 90,000. I was not taken seriously at the meeting. He asked me what they would do. I said I could only tell what I had been through. In addition, there are other elite referees who have said that the accused referee borrowed money from them as well.” In March, the accused man stole a baking machine from an Ica store. He was fined for the offense in July. When he was later arrested in September, Head Referee Stefan Johannesson said that the union was not aware of the accused man's problems before. But it is not only the female judge who believes that she alerted the union about the accused man at an earlier stage. On September 25, Sport Expressen was able to report that several referees had previously expressed concern about the accused man's behavior. Referees have refused to referee with him, saying: "I no longer want him on my team".
In connection with the elite assistant referee being prosecuted, during the month of December, both Peter Ekström and Stefan Johannesson have left their jobs with the football association. Ekström left his position as chairman of the Referees Committee last week and Johannesson will not remain as Head Referee, which Aftonbladet was the first to report. His new position will be posted publicly in the coming days. He says that it is a matter of a reorganization. In an interview with Aftonbladet on Sunday, both Ekström and Johannesson said that their new duties have nothing to do with the prosecution or the information that emerges in the interrogations. In the same interview with Aftonbladet, Johannesson again denies that he would have known about the suspicions against the accused man. Peter Ekström also denies knowledge and denies that there was a connection with his resignation.
The Swedish Football Association says, via its communications manager Andreas Jansson, that they must now get to the bottom of what has happened. “As this has been brought up again, we look at it and go through what it is that has happened to get a clearer picture of it. We would need to do that before giving a full account. That's what I can say right now”, he says. (Source: Expressen)
