In an amateur league near Cologne, Germany the DJK Lions II team decided to provide no competition to a team Rhine Kassel Langel that needed a 36 plus goal advantage to jump ahead of a hated rival and thus move up to a higher division.

The "dislike" for their neighbor club Germania started, when Germania petioned to have a Lions player checked for being in Germany illegally.
It turned out the player was legally registered, but the Lions club took the investigation personal.

Germania was the division leader with a large goal cushion of 36 plus goals and the 2nd place club Rhine Langel had to play the lions on the lqst day of the divisional games.

Revenge is sweet, so the lions decided to get even and allowed 54! goals, in fact making Rhine Langel the division champions.

During the game a Germania fan tried to attack players and the referee to force a game cancellation, in which case the game result would have been counted as a 2:0 forfeit, thus protecting the 36 goal lead of his beloved Germania team.

After a protest by Germania, the local soccer authorities handed out drastic sentences:

DJK Lions as well as their club's top team were each relegated to a lower division. (In Germany it is not uncommon to have a first team and then lower division squads.

Player on the DJK Lions II team were all barred from playing soccer on any team for 1 year.

A hefty fine was imposed.

It could not be proven whether any money was paid to DJK to throw the game.

And like in any legal proceeding the Lion's club is contesting the fines and punishment handed out.

So much for soccer is just a game :-)

“Some people think soccer is a matter of life and death. I assure you, it's much more serious than that.” Bill Shankly - FC Liverpool