Match fixing report out

mike65

Europol investigation which has been under way for some years is reporting this morning, details to follow.

Pinturicchio

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/21319807

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

A Champions League tie played in England is one of 380 matches across Europe 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.

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

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".

Criminals wagered 16m euros on rigged matches and made eight million Euros in profits, Europol say.

LostBoy101

Just looking on social networks like Facebook and Twitter and the ABUs are out in force hoping United is involved. It makes me lol from a United supporters point of view. I heard one say "I hope United get their titles stripped" :rolleyes:

Pacing Mule

Why not reveal the identity of the matches they believed fixed ? I'm intrigued by the "champions league tie played in England" line. What UK team would be involved (although that could also imply a final held in the UK was suspect)

When are we likely to hear which match they suspect ?

Lord TSC

Sure lads, it's all as fake as pro-wrestling. Everyone has maintained kayfabe for decades now, but in ten years time, everyone who watches football will be constantly reminded how it isn't real...

Peppa Pig

Does it have to be the result that was fixed - can it not be something more mundane as to who got the first throw etc. I thought a lot of those Asian syndicates went in for that. Much easier to fix as well.

Turtyturd

Teamshadowclan wrote: »

Sure lads, it's all as fake as pro-wrestling. Everyone has maintained kayfabe for decades now, but in ten years time, everyone who watches football will be constantly reminded how it isn't real...

And Messi refuses to job to Ronaldo.

Leftist

LostBoy101 wrote: »

Just looking on social networks like Facebook and Twitter and the ABUs are out in force hoping United is involved. It makes me lol from a United supporters point of view. I heard one say "I hope United get their titles stripped" :rolleyes:

so predictable too

mike65

a bit more

They said that criminals put €16m on rigged matches and made €8m in profits. Payments of €2m are thought to have been paid to those involved, while investigators said that the biggest payment to an individual was €140,000.

Europol believes a crime syndicate based in Asia was liaising with criminal networks throughout Europe. It believes match-fixing has taken place in 15 countries and 50 people have so far been arrested. Officials said they feared this was the "tip of the iceberg".

"This is the work of a suspected organised crime syndicate based in Asia and operated with criminal networks around Europe," Rob Wainwright, the director of Europol, said.

"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.

roanoke

Teamshadowclan wrote: »

Sure lads, it's all as fake as pro-wrestling. Everyone has maintained kayfabe for decades now, but in ten years time, everyone who watches football will be constantly reminded how it isn't real...

Makes sense. Man U seem to have more late comebacks than Hulk Hogan.

FutureGuy

Pageant Messiah wrote: »

Why not reveal the identity of the matches they believed fixed ? I'm intrigued by the "champions league tie played in England" line. What UK team would be involved (although that could also imply a final held in the UK was suspect)

When are we likely to hear which match they suspect ?

It might have nothing to do with the English team involved.

Very interesting to see who was involved.

Neil3030

LostBoy101 wrote: »

Just looking on social networks like Facebook and Twitter and the ABUs are out in force hoping United is involved. It makes me lol from a United supporters point of view. I heard one say "I hope United get their titles stripped" :rolleyes:

That anyone would listen to these gobsh*tes is the bigger worry, imo.

FutureGuy

roanoke wrote: »

Makes sense. Man U seem to have more late comebacks than Hulk Hogan.

Yes, because they are winners.

Mr. Guappa

Pageant Messiah wrote: »

Why not reveal the identity of the matches they believed fixed ? I'm intrigued by the "champions league tie played in England" line. What UK team would be involved (although that could also imply a final held in the UK was suspect)

When are we likely to hear which match they suspect ?

Has to be the Chelsea v Nordsjaelland game surely? Torres scoring? Twice? It's like they are not even trying to cover their tracks.

roanoke

FutureGuy wrote: »

Yes, because they are winners.

To all my little Fergiemaniacs, say your prayers, take your vitamins and you will never go wrong.

Liam O

I'd seriously doubt any of the English teams players would get involved for what is pretty much just 3 weeks wages post tax for most of them.

roanoke

Out of interest which UEFA leagues/countries currently have the worst track for match fixing?

Will I Amnt

With the money supposedly involved you can pretty much guarantee there will be no big name teams or players involved. You can get your hopes back down folks :pac:

mitosis

I dunno, but the Italians have the best record for catching them

LiamoSail

I would think the Europa lge is more susceptible to match fixing then the champions lge given an unexpected defeat in the Europa lge can be put down to not taking the competition seriously, while fielding a weakened side, particularly in the group stages is often seen as the norm

I think it'd be foolish to think that match fixing and doping aren't a serious issue in football, particularly with the level of money involved and the relatively lax attitude to drug testing. Juve and moggi were found to have cheated, there's the financial doping scandal at rangers, while arsene wenger has spoken of players coming in for Europe showing signs of having doped and wasn't it mike newel who alleged corruption in transfer dealings to be rife?

As for the CL game that was fixed in England, I'd be guessing it was the foreign opposition that threw the game without the knowledge of the English team. There's that much money in English football, that it would probably cost more to buy the highly paid EPL players/manager then it would to buy a Greek or Italian club

Peppa Pig

LiamoSail wrote: »

I There's that much money in English football, that it would probably cost more to buy the highly paid EPL players/manager then it would to buy a Greek or Italian club

But the referees .....

JimsAlterEgo

Could it be the officials and not the players? Some very dodgy decisions over the years.

Or mayb spread betting markets? Corners, time of first shot/throw etc?

LiamoSail

Peppa Pig wrote: »

But the referees .....

True, that's another option. Probably quiet likely given their income.

As an aside, should referees be paid an amount more fitting of a footballers wage to make taking a bung less attractive, and to encourage more for we footballers into tip level referring?

Obviously heyd have to up the subs to finance it..

jethro081

first thing that sprang to my mind was everton's champions league qualifier in the 05-06 season. they were royally screwed that time. wouldn't be overly surprised to find out there were dodgy dealings.

PhlegmyMoses

It will most likely be a betting syndicate and a ref involved in these cases and then maybe some players lower down the leagues. I doubt whole teams would be involved in this. It wouldn't be worth it financially to most professional clubs unless they were receiving huge sums.

noodler

How far back does the report go?

Wasn't the CL final between Juve and Milan (0-0) played in England?

Frankie Lee

Liverpool 8 Besiktas 0 was definitely a dodgy one.

Israel_Dagg

Chelsea v Barca 09.

Pinturicchio

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/21319807

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. Officials fear this is as the "tip of the iceberg";
• In total 380 suspicious matches were in Europe and a further 300 in Africa, Asia and south and central America.

roanoke

Is there any serious money placed on "dead rubbers" (round 6 games)? I could see even a big team abusing this fixture.

strawberryb0y

Besiktas v Liverpool is the most likely I'd guess.
Can't remember too many suspicious reffing displays.
Man Utd v Roma was a mad result but unlikely to throw the game

Anyone

Generally speaking, arent these betting fixing things placed on something other than the result? ie first throw in, team to get a yellow card, first team to get a corner.

That was my understanding at least.

roanoke

strawberryb0y wrote: »

Besiktas v Liverpool is the most likely I'd guess.
Can't remember too many suspicious reffing displays.
Man Utd v Roma was a mad result but unlikely to throw the game

8-0 sounds suspicious alright. But I just checked Liverpool's next few results and they had some crazy/impressive run of CL results, so maybe they were just in form.

Melion

We will never find out what matches they were

Lord TSC

Melion wrote: »

We will never find out what matches they were

Think they are saying they can't name the matches and teams cause its all still under judicial review; if they announced without 100% concrete evidence, they could be sued for a fortune...

ASOT

I think the Zagreb v Lyon game will come out as one of the fixed matches, some of the stuff that went on in that game was weird.

BhoscaCapall

Israel_Dagg wrote: »

Chelsea v Barca 09.

It will be this one. As much as I hate Chelsea.

DenMan

For some reason I think it's Liverpool.

SteelyDanJalapeno

As previously said it will be poor opposition that traveled to England that threw the game, conceded a certain minimum amount of goals.

Anyone looking to understand more about the match fixing world, have a look at Declan Hill's book "The Fix". Europol was established on the back of Declan's great work, he got right in the middle of asian fixers, even getting as far as witnessing deals in first person.

Did it mention it was the senior Champions league btw? I haven't seen the reports yet as I'm in work and will study them when I get back, but fixing is much more prevalent in Minor games, u21 champions league games and the womens.

Jimoslimos

Anyone wrote: »

Generally speaking, arent these betting fixing things placed on something other than the result? ie first throw in, team to get a yellow card, first team to get a corner.

That was my understanding at least.

Spot-fixing. Appealing because it involves something relatively minor which generally doesn't have a major outcome on the final result - so easily hidden. Cricket has been embroiled in a few scandals relating to no-balls thrown, e.g in a game where even in the shortest format you throw at least 120 deliveries it is tempting to toss a few duds for financial reward. Plus you only need one accomplice to make it happen.

It may (betting on these) be banned over here I think.

eagle eye

I can't imagine it involving players or managers from the really big clubs. There is just too much on the line to risk making what really is minor money in terms of their earnings.

Imagine if it was Manchester United, Barcelona or Real Madrid. The media would crucify them and their income from shirt sales, sponsorship etc. would take a huge hit.

The one that stands out to me in the CL if there is an English club involved is a match including a Swiss team and there may have been a very wealthy dog around that night in a game with five goals.

RATM

Chelsea Barcelona would also have to stick out for me. They should have had at least 2 penalties and a whole load of other stuff, it was like the ref just didn't want to know.

I wonder if they did reveal which match in the CL it was would the bookies refund bets on it ? Probably not.

I used to love betting on snooker until their fixing scandal came out with John Higgins secretly filmed offering to throw a frame for €100k. The way they dealt with that (John Higgins is STILL playing, like wtf?) was atrocious so I'll never again place a bet on it.

I'll reserve judgement on this but at the end of the day I'm fooked if I'm going to place money on sports that are fixed, you might as well just burn it.

Giggsy11

Israel_Dagg wrote: »

Chelsea v Barca 09.

Abidal was wrongly sent off and Chelsea were denied several penalties. Looks like incompetent ref than fix tbh.

The_Kew_Tour

TBH it could be any number of games, players or teams.

Lets wait before we make any wild guesses.

dfx-

ASOT wrote: »

I think the Zagreb v Lyon game will come out as one of the fixed matches, some of the stuff that went on in that game was weird.

I'd be astonished if that game wasn't fixed

Giggsy11 wrote: »

Abidal was wrongly sent off and Chelsea were denied several penalties. Looks like incompetent ref than fix tbh.

And that there was really only one penalty shout denied

GLaDOS

I find it difficult to imagine the Chelsea Barca game being fixed. Far too risky, 90% of the footballing world would have been watching it.

roanoke

The second post seems to indicate that this match fixing led back to an "organised crime syndicate based in Asia".

If the Zagreb v Lyon match was fixed I'd imagine it was something arranged between the clubs rather than by a betting syndicate.

kryogen

Plenty of games in Romania, Latvian, Belarus etc that I have bet on or gotten info on over the last few years have almost certainly been fixed. Often the odds indicate a dodgy game even to the untrained eye, I have seen teams open a 3/1 for a win only to be backed into 4/6 and even 1/2 before kick off

Talk to lads in the gambling forum, they would certainly be aware of plenty of dodgy games over the years, South America is another hotbed that I have experienced through gambling.

dreamers75

Poland 2-1 to beat Ireland :O

colly_06

dreamers75 wrote: »

Poland 2-1 to beat Ireland :O

Spain v Ireland in the Euro's