A former Egyptian tennis prodigy has been handed a lifetime suspension from the sport after being found guilty of 21 breeches of the match-fixing code.
Youssef Hossam has been found guilty of committing the violations of the anti-corruption code between 2015-2019 by the Tennis Integrity Unit. The 21-year-old had been provisionally suspended since May. He has been ranked as high as 291st in the world back in 2017 but has never played a match on the ATP Tour.
“Mr Hossam conspired with other parties to carry out an extensive campaign of betting-related corruption at the lower levels of professional tennis. This involved 21 breaches of the Tennis Anti-Corruption Program,” A statement from the TIU outlined.
Among the violations, Hossam has been found guilty of committing eight cases of match-fixing and six cases of facilitating gambling. The other charges include soliciting players to not use their best efforts, failing to report corrupt approaches and failing to cooperate with the TIU.
Hossam, who is currently ranked outside the top 800, was once a rising star in his country. As a junior, he cracked the top 10 in the world rankings and at one stage was the only player from his region to be ranked in the system. Despite being unable to transfer that success onto the professional tour, Hossam was still a member of his country’s Davis Cup team. Playing in seven ties where he won nine out of 11 matches.
“As a result of his conviction, Mr Hossam is now permanently excluded from competing in or attending any sanctioned tennis event organised or recognised by the governing bodies of the sport,” the TIU said.
The ban comes two years after Hossam’s older brother Karim was also issued with a lifetime ban for match-fixing offences. Karim was found guilty of 16 offences, but a BBC investigation alleges that he continued to corrupt the sport following his ban.
Hossam was one of only three Egyptian men to have been ranked inside the top 1000 on the ATP Tour in singles in 2020.
