Photo Gallery The Massive Match-Fixing Web
Europol on Monday announced preliminary results from its ongoing investigation into the extent of match-fixing on European football. Some 380 matches in Europe are thought to have been manipulated. Here, Europol head Rob Wainwright speaks at the Monday press conference in The Hague.
Many of the hundreds of games thought to have been maniplated in recent years in Europe and around the world are already known. But there are many new cases that were brought to light in the Monday press conference.
According to Friedhelm Althans, a chief investigator from the German city of Bochum and one of the world's leading experts on sports betting scandals, 70 of the suspicious matches took place in Germany. He said on Monday that warning systems installed by FIFA and UEFA have failed.
Some of the matches under investigation by Europol are connected to the match-fixing scandal perpetrated by Ante Sapina, who was convicted and sentenced to five years behind bars in 2011.
Most of the matches under suspicion of having been manipulated were lower league fixtures. But some were not, such as this Champions League match in 2009 between the Hungarian club VSC Debrecen and the Italian side AC Florenz.
This 2009 World Cup qualification match between Liechtenstein and Finland is also thought to have been manipulated. Europol believes that most of the manipulations were perpetrated by an Asian crime syndicate.
This cafe in Berlin is implicated in one of the matches under investigation. Bets were placed here for the match...
... between FC Basel and ZSKA Sofia, which took place on Nov. 5, 2009.
Not all fixed matches have required deep investigative insight to uncover. This match, a friendly between Bulgaria and Estonia...
...as well as this game pitting Bolivia against Latvia raised eyebrows even at the time. They were both played on the same day in February 2011 in Antalya. All seven goals scored in the two games came as the result of penalties.
This game, pitting Aalborg against Slavia Sarajevo in 2009, is also thought to have been manipulated.
