Europol Investigation Uncovers More than 380 Suspicious Matches
SKY News UK, 4 February, 2013
The European police agency (Europol) has revealed that a wide-ranging investigation into match fixing has uncovered more than 380 suspicious matches.
These games include World Cup and European Championship qualifiers and two UEFA Champions League games, one of which was in England.
Europol's chief Rob Wainwright said the investigation found "match fixing activity on a scale we have not seen before".
Wainwright revealed the probe uncovered around £7million in betting profits and £1.27m in bribes to players and officials and has already led to several prosecutions.
Match fixing announcement
The investigation identified about
425 corrupt officials, players and serious criminals in 15 countries and 50 arrests have been made so far.
Wainwright also stated that the involvement of organised crime "highlights a big problem for the integrity of football in Europe" with Asian gambling cartels identified as part of the match fixing operation.
Wainwright would not reveal the identity of the Champions League match staged in England under suspicion due to "ongoing judicial proceedings" - but he did confirm it had taken place in the last three to four years and admitted England was not a country under particular scrutiny.
He said: "The focus has been on other countries, not the United Kingdom. However we were surprised by the scale generally of the criminal enterprise and just how widespread it was.
"It would be naive and complacent of those in the UK to think such a criminal conspiracy does not involve the English game and all the football in Europe."
Europol also found another 300 questionable games outside Europe, mainly in Africa, Asia, South and Central America.
UEFA stressed it had a zero-tolerance approach to match-fixing.
It added in a statement: "UEFA is aware of the statements made by Europol regarding the alleged match-fixing that has taken place in various football competitions and expects to receive further information in the coming days.
"As part of the fight against the manipulation of matches, UEFA is already co-operating with the authorities on these serious matters as part of its zero-tolerance policy towards match-fixing in our sport.
"Once the details of these investigations are in UEFA's hands, then they will be reviewed by the appropriate disciplinary bodies in order that the necessary measures are taken."