A Champions League tie played in England is one of 680 matches across the world 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.

A Champions League tie played in England is one of 680 matches across the world Europol investigators say was fixed.

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

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

Rob Wainwright, director of Europol – the European Union’s law enforcement agency, said:”This is the work of a suspected organised crime syndicate based in Asia and operated with criminal networks around Europe.

“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.”

Europol’s investigation

Inquiry started 18 months ago.

Initially involved Germany, Finland and Hungary, before being extended to Slovenia and Austria.

Ended up looking at 680 matches in 30 countries.

13,000 emails were analysed.

A total of 425 suspects were identified.

50 people have been arrested.

80 search warrants obtained.

A number of criminal investigations now taking place.

source BBC News