He is Zimbabwe national team’s biggest prized asset but Knowledge Musona risks seeing his already terrific form in the Belgian Jupiler Pro League go up in smoke.
The 26-year-old fronted the back pages this week for all the wrong reasons after it emerged he was one of five players from the Belgian top tier probed by the Gambling Commission.
Players aren’t supposed to bet on outcome of games they are involved in, a rule the attacker and the four others are strongly believed to have flouted.
Musona debuted before the gambling commission and got grilled on a number of matches he’s alleged to have placed bets on.
24-year-old Waasland-Beveren’s net-minder Laurent Henkinet is another high profile player caught up in the scandal and the Belgian side has since moved to terminate his contract.
Though details about the investigation remain sketchy, pending the commission’s final report, the Warriors playmaker is said to have admitted to betting on few matches and reported himself to his club KV Oostende whom he has a two-and half-year deal with, immediately it became clear he was going to be investigated.
Questions about how the erstwhile Kaizer Chiefs goal-poacher got entangled into betting remain unclear giving he’s had a decent controversy-free career from 2006 when he turned professional to date.
While Knowledge’s case might not be as severe as Laurent who’s labeled a habitual offender consequently costing him his contract with Waasland, it however triggered a debate on social media with Zimbabwe sports fans querying whether he has not done similar things with the national team.
The former Augsburg man is at worst expected to be let off with a huge fine –an amount of which hasn’t been divulged – with possible criminal charges reportedly unlikely.
His club Oostende, as is the tradition with embattled players, backed the Zimbabwe international on the presumption he’s committed no criminal offence while awaiting the gambling commission’s verdict.
And on this basis, coach Yves Vanderhaeghe included top scorer Musona in his match day squad for the league fixture against Sint-Trudiden today evening.
Possibly distracted
Whatever the outcome of betting body’s ruling, Knowledge could potentially see his already terrific season suffer mishap owing to the gargantuan of negative publicity home and abroad his involvement in the debacle has generated.
A proven goal scorer, 15 goals for his country and 13 for his club the previous season with already four to his name in eight games so far this campaign, his decent form in front of goal could be affected.
Musona had never before courted furor of this proportion and this according to sources close to the player could play out in his performance.
Featured Photo: Courtesy of alchetron.com
