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Europe reels from massive soccer scandal
The Japan News.Net
Friday 20th November, 2009
A massive match-fixing scandal has gripped European football.
Two hundred games, all played in 2009, are being investigated by German prosecutors who say a 200-strong gang has infiltrated first and second division soccer competitions bribing referees, coaches and players to manipulate results.
A high ranking official, UEFA Europa League spokesman Peter Limacher on Friday described the scandal as the biggest to hit European football.
Seventeen people were arrested Thursday in a series of 50 police raids in nine countries, including Switzerland, Germany, Britain, and Austria.
"Clearly this is the worst ever match-fixing scandal in European football. We at UEFA are stunned by the magnitude of this," Limacher told a packed press conference Friday.
"We feel a certain satisfaction (the matter is being brought to a head), but on the other side we are deeply affected by the scope of game manipulations by international gangs," he said.
UEFA says it has been actively involved in the investigation and has given assistance through its Betting Fraud Detection System. This system monitors all UEFA competitions and European national league first and second-division matches for suspicious betting patterns. The information on a number of matches was passed to the German authorities upon their request.
"UEFA will be demanding the harshest of sanctions before the competent courts for any individuals, clubs or officials who are implicated in this malpractice, be it under state or sports jurisdiction," UEFA's general secretary, Gianni Infantino, said in a statement issued Friday.  Email this story to a friend
Comments on this story
` ~galljdaj+
11-21-09, 07:52 AM |
Huge match-fixing scandal grips European football
The good honest people of the EU, have to face the naked picture of themselves! Of Course they will not, just as We in the US CANNOT ACEPT our warts and lies!
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jose=cheetah
11-23-09, 02:14 PM |
upsetting
in my opinion this people that are doing this bribing players and refs are making the great sport look bad what are we the people going to look forward to if we already know that we cant trust the refs or players of our favorite team we need to stop this foolishness and let the games go on without corruption greedy bastards
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