An employee of the Budapest Honved FC cleans the team's soccer stadium in Budapest, Hungary, Thursday, Nov. 26, 2009. UEFA, the European football body opened an investigation relating to several soccer clubs including the Budapest Honved FC, saying that they allegedly fixed seven qualifying round games in the Champions League and Europa League between July 16 and Aug. 6. (AP Photo/Bela Szandelszky)
At least 200 European soccer games are being investigated after police said that they had dismantled an alleged international criminal ring suspected of running the continent's biggest ever match-fixing scandal.
According to a Financial Times report, German prosecutors and police said that the gang allegedly obtained more than EUR10m in illegal betting proceeds by manipulating the outcome of games in nine countries, including three in the European Champions League. 'This is without a doubt the biggest fraud scandal to ever hit European football,' said Peter Limacher of the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). Limacher said the investigation could affect the outcome of the Champions League competition because all the games under investigation took place this year. They include matches in Croatia, Slovenia, Turkey, Hungary, Bosnia and Austria. Andreas Bachmann, head of the police team in Bochum leading the investigation, said that the estimated criminal proceeds, number of games involved and circle of suspects could increase. 'This is just the tip of the iceberg,' he said. 'We must assume that the actual figures will be much higher.'
Full Financial Times report
UEFA released the names of five clubs involved in allegations. The European football body identified the clubs as KF Tirana, FC Dinaburg, KS Vilaznia, NK IB Llubljana and Honved and said they allegedly fixed seven qualifying round games in the Champions League and Europa League between July 16 and August 6,2009. UEFA general secretary Gianni Infantino described match-fixing as a ‘‘cancer we need to eradicate.’’
German police have, meanwhile, arrested an undisclosed number of suspects. A Google News report notes that a Croatian man convicted as the mastermind of a German match-fixing scandal in 2005 was among those arrested - Ante Sapina and his brother were among five people arrested in Berlin, and the report says that 15 arrest warrants in 10 countries had been issued. UEFA said it was aware of the arrests, adding that it had been 'working closely with German authorities through its betting fraud detection system for monitoring irregular betting patterns.'
Full Google News report
The German police have questioned two players from the Fortuna Düsseldorf soccer club in connection with the widening match-fixing scandal in Europe. German clubs are a part of the scandal.
The ever-spreading investigation also covers China and Italy. Meanwhile, the role of officials in the questioned matches is also being probed.
People are pictured through a window at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland, Wednesday, Nov. 25, 2009. The federations concerned of the current match fixing cases have been convoked to UEFA's headquarters for a meeting. (AP Photo/Keystone, Dominic Favre)
Representatives of police, public prosecutors and UEFA during a news conference about sports betting fraud, at the police headquarters in Bochum, Germany, Friday, Nov. 20, 2009. German prosecutors investigating match-fixing in football say 15 people in Germany and two in Switzerland have been arrested and that about 200 games in Europe are affected. Police say more than 15 raids have been conducted in Switzerland, Germany and Britain and that documents, cash and valuables have been seized. Authorities in Germany and elsewhere are working together with UEFA in the probe targeting an international gang suspected of manipulating games to make money on betting. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)
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