FIFPro has urged players at Czech club Banik Most not to take lie detector tests over suspicions of match-fixing.
Banik Most, second bottom of the Czech second division after suffering nine straight defeats, appear certain to be relegated as they are 10 points from safety with five games to play, and the club announced on their official website on Monday that, after an internal analysis of last month's 5-2 defeat to FK Pardubice, the players would be subjected to a polygraph.
FIFPro, the global players' union, reported on its website that the club planned to employ a private detective to conduct the interrogations.
Banik Most board member Antonin Stehlik said on Aktualne.cz that he had suspected things were not "normal" when the team fell 2-0 behind on 11 minutes, and that the situation became "clear" when they 4-0 down after half an hour.
Stehlik, who declined to comment on whether the club would involve the police, said the tests would be entirely above board and that the players would only be questioned on events relating to the Pardubice game.
"Anyone who has a clear conscience need not worry," Stehlik said. "Players came to me to tell me they were a little nervous. I told them that the equipment can distinguish between what is nervousness and what is a lie."
Posted by FK Baník Most 1909 on Sunday, 26 April 2015
However, both FIFPro and the Czech players' union have warned the players against taking a polygraph.
Marketa Haindlova, the president of the Czech Association of Football Players, said on Aktualne.cz: "I strongly oppose this and hope it does not go ahead."
She added that the legitimacy of the results is "not certain" and said players should refuse to take part, urging them to go to the police if they feel they are being treated unfairly.
FIFPro's head of legal department, Wil van Megen, echoed Haindlova's concern about the reliability of the tests.
"Many scientists have criticised the use of the lie detector," he said. "They are not convinced that this tool is the most accurate to determine whether someone is telling the truth or lying. Experts say that people can cheat at these tests, that people can be influenced while taking these tests, that these tests can give the wrong results. Simply put, lie detector tests are dubious."
The global players' union also expressed concern on its website that players were being treated as "potential suspects, even though there appears to be no clear evidence," and said: "FIFPro wants to stress that players are often the victims of match-fixing. Professional footballers could be involved, but match-fixing rarely starts with the players."
FIFPro also said it had been informed that none of the Banik Most players had received their salaries for March.
Van Megen added: "It is a fact that players are more vulnerable to approaches by match-fixers when their salaries are not paid and are consequently encountering financial difficulties. Therefore FIFPro strongly advises the directors of FC Banik Most to solve that problem first, before it starts portraying its own players as criminals."
The union stressed that it is "involved in various initiatives aimed at bringing an end to match-fixing" and is "fully prepared to offer its full cooperation in serious efforts to tackle match-fixing."