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World Cup Player Elye Wahi Arrested for Alleged Match-Fixing Ahead of Tournament
Elye Wahi, the Ivory Coast footballer playing at the 2026 World Cup, was arrested on suspicion of match-fixing less than two weeks before the tournament, The Athletic can reveal.
Sources with knowledge of events, who spoke anonymously as they were not authorized to speak publicly, confirmed the 23-year-old is the subject of an active investigation into whether he deliberately earned a yellow card while playing for Nice against Metz on May 17.
Wahi was arrested by French police on May 29, immediately after scoring two goals in a win over Saint-Etienne that kept Nice in Ligue 1. He has since traveled to the United States for the World Cup and started in Ivory Coast's 1-0 win over Ecuador on Sunday in Philadelphia, hitting the crossbar in the second half. Ivory Coast's next game is against Germany in Toronto on Saturday.
A spokesperson for the Marseille public prosecutor's office told The Athletic on Tuesday: “We can confirm that a 23-year-old football player, competing in France’s Ligue 1, was arrested on May 29 as part of an investigation opened by the Marseille public prosecutor’s office into allegations of organized fraud, organized sports corruption, handling of proceeds of crime and money laundering. He was released after being interviewed in police custody. The investigations remain ongoing. The football player is not a member of the French selection taking part in the World Cup.”
The Athletic has approached Wahi, Ivory Coast, and FIFA for comment.
Wahi played in Ivory Coast’s opening game of the tournament on Sunday. (Al Bello / Getty Images)
According to multiple sources with knowledge of the case, who spoke off-record to discuss the allegations candidly, the probe began after the Ligue de Football Professionnel (LFP) received several notifications of suspicious betting patterns in Nice’s Ligue 1 fixture against Metz, involving wagers on Wahi to receive a yellow card. The practice of manipulating events within a game is known as spot-fixing.
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The Athletic reported earlier this month that two players set to appear at the World Cup had been reported for suspected fixing offenses, one of whom was Wahi, who was reported to the French Football Federation.
Wahi was included in Ivory Coast’s World Cup squad on May 15, four days before the Metz fixture. In that match, Wahi received a yellow card in the 35th minute after a late tackle on Metz defender Sadibou Sane. He had committed a foul two minutes earlier without a caution. Following that booking, Wahi was suspended for the first leg of Nice’s relegation play-off against Saint-Etienne on May 26, having accumulated five yellow cards over the Ligue 1 season. With Wahi watching from the stands, Nice drew 0-0 away. He returned to the starting lineup in the second leg three days later, starring in a 4-1 home victory with two goals and being named man of the match. He was subsequently arrested by anti-corruption specialists in the French police.
Wahi has not been charged with any crime as the investigation continues and subsequently traveled to North America for the World Cup.
Wahi was arrested after being named man of the match in Nice’s relegation play-off second-leg against Saint-Etienne in May. (Valery Hache/AFP via Getty Images)
The striker previously represented France at youth level before switching allegiance to the Ivory Coast in March this year. Wahi played 55 minutes at striker against Ecuador, linking up well with man of the match Yan Diomande before hitting the crossbar two minutes before his substitution. He was replaced by Inter Milan forward Ange Yoan-Bonny, with Manchester United’s Amad Diallo scoring a 90th-minute winner.
FIFA did not respond when asked if it was aware of Wahi’s arrest prior to his playing on Sunday or whether the arrest would affect his eligibility to play or travel.
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Wahi is due to travel to Canada for Ivory Coast’s match in Toronto on Saturday against Group E leaders Germany. Canada this week denied entry to Ghana’s Thomas Partey for reasons related to rape charges against him in the UK, which he strongly denies.
Born on the outskirts of Paris in 2003, Wahi originally spent time at the Caen academy before breaking into Ligue 1 with Montpellier in the 2020-21 season. He subsequently played for Lens and Marseille before joining Bundesliga side Eintracht Frankfurt at the start of last season. After a goalless first half of the season in Germany, he joined Nice on loan in January, helping keep the club in Ligue 1 with five goals in 14 league appearances.