-
-
Related
- Spain not immune to match-fixing, league boss says
- A-League vulnerable to match fixing
- ‘Sad day for football’ as fixing scam uncovered
video
Singapore, which European investigators say is the source for
hundreds of soccer matches being fixed in a global betting scam,
promised today to aid the probe but some in the game said many of
the revelations were nothing new.
About 680 suspicious matches including qualifying games for the
World Cup and European Championships, and the Champions League for
top European club sides, have been identified in an inquiry by
European police forces, the European anti-crime agency Europol and
national prosecutors.
“The authorities in Singapore are assisting the European
authorities in their investigations into an international
match-fixing syndicate that purportedly involves Singaporeans,” the
Southeast Asian city-state’s police said in a statement.
“Singapore takes a strong stance against match-fixing and is
committed to working with international enforcement agencies to
bring down transnational criminal syndicates, including those that
involve the acts of Singaporeans overseas, and protect the
integrity of the sport.”
Investigators said about 380 of the suspicious matches were
played in Europe, and a further 300 were identified in Africa, Asia
and Latin America.
The fixing could also include top-flight national league matches
in several European countries, as well as two Champions League
matches, including one played in Britain.
Danish newspaper Ekstra Bladet said that match was Hungarian
side Debrecen’s 2009 Champions League group match against
Liverpool.
The report caused barely a ripple at Debrecen who said on Tuesday
that it was merely raking over old ground.
Ekstra Bladet said match fixers intended to rig the betting
market for total goals in the European club clash, which Liverpool
won 1-0, and targeted Debrecen’s Montenegrin goalkeeper Vukasin
Poleksic.
Debrecen, however, said these allegations have already been
dealt with by European soccer’s governing body UEFA and Poleksic
was given a two-year ban in 2010 for failing to report approaches
from alleged fixers ahead of matches against Liverpool and Serie A
side Fiorentina in Hungary.
The scourge of match fixing, according to one coach who was
banned for helping to throw matches, will not go away quickly.
Family threatened
Burkina Faso coach Paul Put, whose own career was blighted by
his involvement in a match-fixing scandal in Belgium in 2005, held
out little hope that the problem could be easily solved.
“Match-fixing has always existed in football. If you look in
cycling, at Lance Armstrong, it’s always him who is pointed at but
everybody was taking drugs,” the Belgian said.
“When I played football I saw a lot of things. I don’t think you
can change it. It’s unfortunate but I think in every sport you have
to face those things,” he told reporters today ahead of Burkina
Faso’s African Nations Cup semi-final meeting with Ghana in
Nelspruit, South Africa.
Put was banned from football for three years for fixing two
matches while in charge at Lierse in 2005. He said his family had
been threatened and feels he was a scapegoat.
“You have to see what’s going on in football. There are a lot of
big international players who are involved in match-fixing,” he
said. “I think it was worse in the past.”
Bolivian soccer authorities said a match which media reports say
is included in the Europol probe was already being dealt with.
“We all know that this federation asked international
authorities to clear up this issue,” federation president Carlos
Chavez told local media in reference to the controversial decisions
made by a Hungarian referee during a 2010 Under-20 friendly.
Argentina won 1-0 after the referee extended playing time by 13
minutes and awarded them a penalty.
German soccer has been tarnished by match-fixing scandals in the
past decade, one involving a corrupt referee who was caught, but
German Football League (DFL) president Reinhard Rauball said the
top two Bundesliga divisions were not caught up in this
investigation.
“According to our knowledge the Bundesliga and the second
Bundeslia are not affected,” Rauball said.
A different picture emerged from Spain where, according to the
vice president of the country’s professional league (LFP),
match-fixing and illegal betting exist in Spanish soccer.
“Here the illness is not admitted to so you cannot cure the
patient,” the LFP’s Javier Tebas was quoted as saying in Marca
sports daily.
“There are institutions which are not aware of what goes on,” he
said.
“There is matchfixing and illegal betting. In a small percentage
but there is also corruption in Spain.”
Singapore join probe into match-fixing scam
Không có nhận xét nào:
Đăng nhận xét