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MOSCOW: The coach of Russian top-flight club Ural Yekaterinburg resigned on Tuesday, two days after a 4-1 home defeat to Terek Grozny which has raised suspicions of match-fixing.
Vadim Skripchenko, a former Belarus international who had been in charge of Ural since July 2015, said at a press conference that his decision was "nothing to do with the match against Grozny."
Ural are currently fourth from bottom in the Russian Premier League with just nine points from 12 games.
Against Terek they had taken the lead but conceded an equaliser just before half-time and then collapsed after the break. Three of Terek's goals came from flagrant defensive errors.
Russian media reported that the match was the subject of unusual betting patterns -- with the score at 1-1 at half-time, odds for a Ural win suddenly increased while odds on Terek, who are fourth in the table, plunged.
Such a disparity in the odds indicates that bookmakers believed the match to be fixed.
Vitaly Mutko, Russia's Sports Minister who is also president of the Russian Football Federation, announced after the match that an investigation had been opened but stated a short while later that no irregularities had been found.
"It was just an average league match. Frankly speaking I don't see any reason for fixing this match," he said.
The two clubs themselves rejected suggestions of match-fixing.
Meanwhile, a lawyer representing the interests of Russian gamblers told Sport FM radio that his clients had taken legal action against the Russian public prosecutor as the match had been "clearly rigged."
"We will ask the bookmakers why they didn't stop taking bets when they realised the match was suspect," said Roman Lalayan.
Skripchenko, meanwhile, has been linked with the vacant coaching past at Krylia Sovetov Samara after Belgian coach Frank Vercauteren was sacked on Monday.
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