Match-fixing: A scandal so sophisticated, it’s successful

Behind all the goals and glory, football across the globe has been reeling under back-room controversy in recent years; racism and the politics of FIFA illustrate the darker side of the beautiful game.

Now, the murky business of match-fixing takes centre-stage.

An eighteen-month covert investigation by Europol has found that more than 380 football matches – including one in England – had been fixed, with a total of 425 match officials, club officials, players and criminals, from more than 15 countries, suspected of being involved. The matches range from fourth division to top-flight games across major European leagues as well as World Cup and European Championship qualifiers.

Europol’s chief Rob Wainwright (2nd-L) arrives for a press conference next to Friedhelm Althans, chief investigator of Bochum police (L) and Andreas Bachmann (2R) from the Bochum prosecution service

Europol could not reveal specifically which matches have been targeted citing legal reasons, but the mention of the Champions League and in particular, Liverpool’s 2009 group game against Hungarian side Debrecen, raised a few eyebrows.

Rob Wainwright, Europol’s director, said ‘It’s a sad day for football’ and that they have known for some time that organized crime and betting rings operate in many parts of the illegal economy. He went on to add in a rather grave press conference that, “This is match-fixing on a scale we’ve not seen before”.

These are chilling accusations, with the evidence locked up for another sombre day as the agency will shortly be informing UEFA President, Michel Platini, of its investigations. But as shocked as we may be, the signs were ever-present, from as early as 2006.

Back in 2006, Italian police implicated then champions Juventus and other top teams when telephone interceptions showed teams rigging games by selecting referees of their choice. And in 2011, barely five years since the first scandal, a second one rocked the nation.

Operation Last Bet, as it was known in the local press, saw Antonio Conte, the coach of the ‘Old Lady’, banned for ten months (later reduced to four) for failing to report match-fixing. Italy has long been known to have struggled to do things the right way. They are a high-profile example of a country in the 21st century which is struggling to deal with match-fixing and is still victim to vile racist chants.

But the Italians are not alone, as the list of suspicious games covers the length and breadth of Europe. In early 2009, investigators from Bocum, Germany stumbled across a racket that involved rigging games for industrial scale gains.

150 of the 380 dubious European games highlighted by Europol supposedly come from their books. Games from Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Hungary, Germany, Turkey, Slovenia and Switzerland were also put under the scanner, which resulted in 17 arrests as well as the seizure of cash and property.

While Europe seems to be the epicentre of this ignominy, it has just played host to the massive ripple effect of repercussions. The headquarters of the Asian origin ring leaders are in Singapore and they use “facilitators” to fix matches for illegal profits.

Singapore has, for the longest time, had a refined and cultured reputation as one of the cleanest and safest cities to live in. And it probably is. But nobody imagined the lewd scenes of what goes on in the sewers or in the dingy corners of dark lonely alley-ways of the city-state.

It has been suggested that the betting is on in-game incidents, rather than the outcome of various club and national games (similar to the spot-fixing controversies that involved Pakistani cricketers). Singaporean authorities have agreed to cooperate with their European counterparts to bring down those central to this criminal syndicate.

While the scale of this sophisticated operation spreads across continents, its financial benefits too are equally humongous. The betting cartel based in the island country has made over €8m in profits and about €2m in corrupt payments for those involved thus far.

This whole conspiracy proves that with every passing day, football keeps getting murkier and murkier. But as vulnerable as its authorities might be, it gives FIFA and UEFA the opportunity to work with international police. Not only to prove if any of these allegations add up, but also to try and clean whatever little they can of the sport.