International soccer match-fixing probe expands

HAMILROCK · #1 07-15-2010, 11:46 AM

CTV.ca News Staff

Updated: Thu. Jul. 15 2010 11:22 AM ET

Just days after a joyous World Cup, the sport of soccer has been shaken by an investigation into alleged match-fixing covering 270 matches and more than 250 people in at least nine countries.

German prosecutors first announced the investigation in November but said on Wednesday that the scope of the alleged scheme had expanded.

They said it was believed that $2 million was paid out in bribes to referees and players, and that profits from manipulated bets amounted to about $10 million.

Investigative journalist Declan Hill, who wrote the groundbreaking book "The Fix: Soccer and Organized Crime," said Thursday that match-fixing is much more common than the average fan would suspect.

"What the Germans have uncovered is . . . the Asian gambling market, which is absolutely gigantic, is coming into Europe and North America," he told CTV News Channel. "Because of the size of the gambling market there (in Asia), it's corrupted much of the Asian sports leagues, and now it's starting to corrupt these leagues around the world.

"It's a huge, huge problem and they are only beginning to tackle it now."

The investigation now involves 53 matches in Germany; 19 in Belgium; 35 in Switzerland; 15 in Croatia; seven in Slovenia; 74 in Turkey; 14 in Hungary; eight in Bosnia; 12 in Austria; and 33 games in international competitions.

German prosecutors have not named the specific matches or any of the players or referees under suspicion.

Eight people are in custody awaiting charges in Germany, while there have been three arrests in Switzerland, 22 in Croatia and about 70 in Turkey.

"The extremely complex investigations will take a long time yet," prosecutors said, adding charges should be laid shortly.

Hill says many fans don't want to believe that some matches may be fixed.

"Sport is our organized religion at the moment. People put an enormous amount of their values and ideals into sport and it's very difficult to say ‘like anything else in this world, it can be corrupted.'"