A match-fixing ring with more than 200 suspected members fixed or tried to fix around 200 matches across Europe, including three in the Champions League, in what UEFA called the biggest betting scandal in Europe.
The investigation, which unearthed what UEFA representative Peter Limacher called Europe's biggest ever soccer betting scandal, included only matches played in 2009.
"We at (European soccer's governing body) UEFA are stunned by the magnitude of this," Limacher told reporters at a Bochum police news conference.
"This is undoubtedly the biggest match-fixing scandal that European football has ever seen. Now we must do everything to make sure those referees, players and officials are taken to justice."
Police in Germany, Britain, Austria and Switzerland staged simultaneous raids, arresting 15 people in Germany and two in Switzerland, officials in Bochum said.
Officers also seized one million euros ($1.49 million) in cash or goods as part of an investigation into the suspected manipulation of games across nine European leagues.
Some 50 properties were searched in the four countries. "There was a group of individuals who did or tried to influence matches with money and make illegal profit through the placing of bets," said Bochum state prosecutor Andreas Bachmann.
HUNDREDS OF MATCHES
Bochum police said 200 people were suspected of being part of the ring that tried to rig about 200 matches, some during the current season.
In an operation launched months ago, some 300 German police officers assisted by more police forces in the other countries cracked down on the ring on Thursday.
A City of London spokeswoman said in a statement: "Following a request from German law enforcement officers, City of London police assisted in the execution of a search warrant in the Greater London area on Thursday."
She added no arrests had been made and just one property was searched.
Some 32 matches in Germany's lower divisions as well as dozens of first or second division matches in Turkey, Bosnia, Hungary, Croatia Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia were under investigation.
Twelve matches in the Europa League, the second-tier European club competition behind the elite Champions League, were also under suspicion, Bochum police official Ralf Ziegler said.
In 2005, Germany was rocked by a betting scandal involving Bundesliga referee Robert Hoyzer, who rigged matches as part of an international illegal betting gang and was sentenced to two years and five months in prison.
"We at (European soccer's governing body) UEFA are stunned by the magnitude of this," Limacher told reporters at a Bochum police news conference.
"This is undoubtedly the biggest match-fixing scandal that European football has ever seen. Now we must do everything to make sure those referees, players and officials are taken to justice."
Police in Germany, Britain, Austria and Switzerland staged simultaneous raids, arresting 15 people in Germany and two in Switzerland, officials in Bochum said.
Officers also seized one million euros ($1.49 million) in cash or goods as part of an investigation into the suspected manipulation of games across nine European leagues.
Some 50 properties were searched in the four countries. "There was a group of individuals who did or tried to influence matches with money and make illegal profit through the placing of bets," said Bochum state prosecutor Andreas Bachmann.
HUNDREDS OF MATCHES
Bochum police said 200 people were suspected of being part of the ring that tried to rig about 200 matches, some during the current season.
In an operation launched months ago, some 300 German police officers assisted by more police forces in the other countries cracked down on the ring on Thursday.
A City of London spokeswoman said in a statement: "Following a request from German law enforcement officers, City of London police assisted in the execution of a search warrant in the Greater London area on Thursday."
She added no arrests had been made and just one property was searched.
Some 32 matches in Germany's lower divisions as well as dozens of first or second division matches in Turkey, Bosnia, Hungary, Croatia Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia were under investigation.
Twelve matches in the Europa League, the second-tier European club competition behind the elite Champions League, were also under suspicion, Bochum police official Ralf Ziegler said.
In 2005, Germany was rocked by a betting scandal involving Bundesliga referee Robert Hoyzer, who rigged matches as part of an international illegal betting gang and was sentenced to two years and five months in prison.
Report By TOI
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