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Match-fixing: Champions League tie played in England 'was fixed'


Genie

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A Champions League tie played in England is one of 680 matches across the world investigators say was fixed.

European police did not reveal the identity of the match they believe was corrupt in England.

 

But Europol did say that they had uncovered an organised crime syndicate based in Asia that was co-ordinating the operation.

Initially involved Germany, Finland and Hungary, before being extended to Slovenia and Austria.

Ended up looking at 680 matches in 30 countries.

13,000 emails were analysed.

A total of 425 suspects were identified.

50 people have been arrested.

80 search warrants obtained.

 

Some 425 match officials, club officials, players and criminals are suspected of being involved.

 

At a news conference in The Hague, Netherlands, Europol claimed:

 

The fixed Champions League tie in England took place in the "last three or four years";

  • The identity of that match cannot be revealed due to "ongoing judicial proceedings";
  • Other "corrupt" matches included World Cup and European Championship qualifiers and "several top football matches in European leagues";
  • In Germany-based matches alone, criminals wagered £13.8m (16m euros) on rigged matches and made £6.9m in profits
  • In total 380 suspicious matches were in Europe and a further 300 in Africa, Asia and south and central America.
  • Officials fear this is as the "tip of the iceberg".
Rob Wainwright, director of Europol - the European Union's law enforcement agency, said:"This is the work of a suspected organised crime syndicate based in Asia and operated with criminal networks around Europe.

 

"It is clear to us this is the biggest-ever investigation into suspected match-fixing in Europe. It has yielded major results which we think have uncovered a big problem for the integrity of football in Europe.

 

"We have uncovered an extensive criminal network."

 

Europol, which has been investigating for 18 months, said suspected matches included World Cup and European Championship qualifiers, two Champions League ties and "several top football matches in European leagues".

"These gambling rings are basically having to bribe people to play badly or to fix results and then they are wagering large amounts of money, often in Asia, on the outcome of games knowing that they can cheat the bookmakers because they have inside information.

 

"It's easy to imagine how you can fix something when it is one person against another. When it's two teams of 11 it is more difficult and presumably you need collusion from more than one person. Referees can give penalties and things can be ruled offside when they are not, but you would imagine they need several people to be sure."

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In addition to the £13.8m wagered on Germany-based matches, payments of £1.73m are thought to have been paid to those involved.

Financial details were not given from the other countries said to be involved, except that the biggest payment to an individual was in Austria for a total of £121,000.

Europol believes a crime syndicate based in Asia was liaising with criminal networks throughout Europe, adding that match-fixing has taken place in 15 countries and 50 people have so far been arrested.

In total, 30 countries and close to 700 matches worldwide were examined.

Many of the allegations involved matches in lower divisions around Europe.

German police described a global network involving couriers ferrying bribes of up to £86,000 per match around the world, paying off players and referees.

Most cases have been discovered in Germany where 14 people have been jailed for a total of 39 years.

Criminal convictions have also been secured in Finland, Hungary, Slovenia and Austria.

Asked specifically about the allegations surrounding the Champions League tie held in England, Wainwright declined to identify the match because of "ongoing judicial proceedings".

However he did say it happened in the last three to four years, adding: "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."

A Uefa spokesman said they would co-operate with the investigation. He said: "We will be liaising with Europol in relation to any reports of match fixing in European competition."

 

Any rumours doing the rounds as to which game it was?

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I have always felt it would be very difficult to successfully fix a huge game. For it to work every single person has to be in on it, and if only one person is not it will not work. Inevitably there will be a few people who do not agree with it.

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Maybe, but you can bet on anything, like who wins the first throw in and who makes the first foul. The was a 'scandal' over here a while back where a manager and a few players were involved in that.

Edited by tarjei
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I have always felt it would be very difficult to successfully fix a huge game. For it to work every single person has to be in on it, and if only one person is not it will not work. Inevitably there will be a few people who do not agree with it.

It might not be easy to get an exact result in a match but if you can buy a ref they could have a lot of influence over the direction a game goes. A few yellow cards to the right players or soft fouls given to a team would have a big influence on how a game plays out.

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Although the game took place in England it doesn't actually mean that the English club were involved in anyway, in fact I would expect that not to be the case. It is far more likely that the away team were the ones likely to be the guilty party.

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There's only one Champions League Game that I've watched that took place in England where I genuinely thought the ref was being deliberately biased. Not a case of "he's favoured the home team there" or "he'd probably have given that if it was a bigger club" or anything like that.

 

It was a genuine feeling of disbelief that the ref could have amde some of those calls.

 

This one

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Although the game took place in England it doesn't actually mean that the English club were involved in anyway, in fact I would expect that not to be the case. It is far more likely that the away team were the ones likely to be the guilty party.

 

Yep, this would makes sense. 

Edited by AVFCforever1991
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There's only one Champions League Game that I've watched that took place in England where I genuinely thought the ref was being deliberately biased. Not a case of "he's favoured the home team there" or "he'd probably have given that if it was a bigger club" or anything like that.

 

It was a genuine feeling of disbelief that the ref could have amde some of those calls.

 

This one

 

 

Before I even clicked the link, I knew you were refering to that one. Apart from the Spain South Korea 2002 world cup quarter final, that was the most disgraceful refereeing I have seen.

Edited by Voinjama
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Maybe not linked to match fixing but I remember a few seasons ago, think it was Liverpool in the CL, player goes over in the box and the ref blows his whistle and points to the spot a couple of seconds pass and he decides to point to the corner flag instead. I've never seen anything like that before. Maybe he forgot who was paying his wages that week?

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First throw would be a piece of piss as Villa used to do it every kick off. Short kick off, wing back goes sprinting up the line, villa midfield pings a long pass to the opposition full back area and 9 times out of 10 it was overhit and went for a throw.

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Expect "Police have noted a betting pattern whereby after Aston Villa go 2 goals up there is a rush of money being waged on the match to end in a draw" soon.

 

As you say NV, there's no other explanation!!

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There's only one Champions League Game that I've watched that took place in England where I genuinely thought the ref was being deliberately biased. Not a case of "he's favoured the home team there" or "he'd probably have given that if it was a bigger club" or anything like that.

 

It was a genuine feeling of disbelief that the ref could have amde some of those calls.

 

This one

 

this was horrible game of football, Chelsea were absolutely robbed and if any footballing justice was done it was them beating barcelona last season

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I have always felt it would be very difficult to successfully fix a huge game. For it to work every single person has to be in on it, and if only one person is not it will not work. Inevitably there will be a few people who do not agree with it.

 

not really. Im sure to match fix a game their is 2 ways to go about it the referee or the goalkeeper as these would be 2 key ways to influence the game

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I have always felt it would be very difficult to successfully fix a huge game. For it to work every single person has to be in on it, and if only one person is not it will not work. Inevitably there will be a few people who do not agree with it.

 

not really. Im sure to match fix a game their is 2 ways to go about it the referee or the goalkeeper as these would be 2 key ways to influence the game

Or an outfield player doing his damnedest to assist the opponents
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