In one of the shocking findings by the European Union’s joint police body, there are more than 680 matches that were fixed in one way of another. While more than half of them happened in European soil, rests are related to other parts of the world, including Africa, America, and Asia. Moreover, these fixed matches are not confined to few soccer events; perhaps they cover every popular soccer league and tournament, like World Cup, European Championship qualifiers and Champions League matches. This is perhaps the most alarming single to all the fans of soccer, and more importantly, investigators have also said that there would be more findings once they carry on their investigations. Rob Wainwright, the head of Europol who is doing the investigations, said, “This is a sad day for European football, and more evidence of the corrupting influence of organized crime.” He also added that criminals were gaining money from soccer fixing on a large scale.
Accordingly, there are players, officials, coaches, and managers who are involved in match fixing practices which have now crossed the border. Though, Europol did not name any of the players or other officers’ involvement coz it may harm the investigation, but it singled out that current findings are just a tip of the whole iceberg. Moneywise, investigators have found a direct relation between fixing and money wherein, according to Europol, more than 2 million euros have been paid to tainted players while around 8 million in profit was made from betting. This figure is rather narrowed considering the pre-estimated number but since it is just the initial findings, there would be more crackdowns in coming weeks.
Chief investigator Friedhelm Althans said over the outcomes, “We have evidence for 150 of these cases, and the operations were run out of Singapore with bribes of up to 100,000 euros paid per match. One fixed match might involve up to 50 suspects in 10 countries on separate continents. Even two World Championship Qualification matches in Africa, and one in Central America, are under suspicion.”
European investigators reportedly analyzed more than 13000 emails along with thousands of phone calls to reach the latest findings. The investigating agency, who was set up in July 2011 after increasing suspicious results in Italy, promises to come up with more details once they complete scrutiny of evidence. It is expected that more than one billions are in stake in soccer match fixing directly or indirectly, so it will be interested to see more outcomes of the running probe.