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Investigation Finds Suspected Fixing in 680 Soccer Matches Police Call Match-Fixing Widespread in Soccer
(about 7 hours later)
Soccer is known throughout much of the world as the beautiful game. But the sport’s ugliest side — the scourge of match-fixing — will not go away. Soccer is known throughout much of the world as the beautiful game. But the sport’s ugliest side — the scourge of match-fixing — will not soon go away.
With next summer’s World Cup in Brazil drawing closer, a European police intelligence agency said Monday that a 19-month investigation revealed widespread occurrences of match-fixing in recent years, with nearly 700 games globally deemed suspicious. The list of matches is staggering and encompasses about 380 games in Europe, covering World Cup and European championship qualifiers, as well as Champions League games, including one match played in England. With the 2014 World Cup in Brazil drawing closer, a European police intelligence agency said Monday that its 19-month investigation, code-named Operation Veto, revealed widespread occurrences of match-fixing in recent years, with 680 games globally deemed suspicious. The list of match types is staggering: some 150 international matches, mostly in Africa, Asia and Latin America; roughly 380 games in Europe, covering World Cup and European championship qualifiers as well as two Champions League games; and games that run the gamut from lower-division semiprofessional matches to contests in top domestic leagues.
Officials of Europol, an agency that works with countries across the continent, offered details that strike at the sport’s core: nearly $11 million in profits and nearly $3 million in bribes were discovered during the investigation, which uncovered “match-fixing activity on a scale we have not seen before,” said Rob Wainwright, the director of Europol. But officials at the news conference at The Hague repeatedly sidestepped questions from reporters on how many of the actual 680 matches cited had been previously reported, and, in some instances, previously prosecuted, and how many of them represented new information.
Fixers typically seek to dictate a game’s result by corrupting the players or the on-field officials, and officials said Monday that roughly 425 people were under suspicion because of the investigation, with 50 people having been arrested. The scope of the investigation covered games from 2008 to 2011. Nor would the officials identify any of the teams and individuals newly linked to match-fixing, citing the need to guard the confidentiality of police procedures.
An organized crime syndicate based in Asia is believed to be the driving force behind the fixing activity, which stretches across at least 15 countries, officials said. Individual bribes were, in some instances, upward of $136,000, and fixers would place bets on the tainted matches through bookmakers in Asia. Various matches in Africa, Asia and South and Central America were identified as suspicious, though the European element of the investigation is the most significant. Still, one new tantalizing detail did emerge: the revelation that one of the suspicious matches uncovered was a game in the Champions League — the most prestigious annual soccer tournament in the world — and that it was played in England in the last three or four years.
“This is a sad day for European football,” Wainwright said at a news conference in the Netherlands, adding: “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.” Even as the news conference continued, fans immediately took to social media to speculate on the match in question and, indeed, on which English team might have been involved. Manchester United, Manchester City, Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and Tottenham are the only English teams that have participated in the Champions League during the time frame cited by officials. All six are iconic teams in England’s Premier League, which is by far the world’s most popular soccer league and has an unparalleled global following.
But officials at the news conference repeatedly dodged questions from reporters on how many of the 680 matches cited were previously known and how many were newly discovered. And while the absence of details left it unclear as to whether investigators believed an English team was culpable in fixing a Champions League game, or whether it was an opposing team from another country that had come to England for the match, the fact that match-fixing was now being linked to the country that represents the biggest international stage in soccer left many in the sport apprehensive.
Nor would they identify any of the teams and individuals newly linked to match-fixing, citing the need to guard the confidentiality of police procedures. “It would be naïve and complacent of those in the U.K. to think such a criminal conspiracy does not involve the English game and all the football in Europe,” Rob Wainwright, the director of the police intelligence agency, known as Europol, told reporters.
Still, the breadth of the investigation was significant, and it inspired strong reactions from global fans. Even as the news conference continued, fans took to social media to speculate on which matches might have been fixed, with a particular fascination as to what English Champions League contest drew the investigators’ scrutiny. Indeed, the notion that corruption has been identified in British soccer, home of the English Premier League, the world’s most popular grouping, will reverberate globally. Most of the investigation’s focus, however, was elsewhere. Europol described a wide-ranging network of fixing that struck at the sport’s core. Nearly $11 million in profits and nearly $3 million in bribes were discovered during the investigation, which uncovered “match-fixing activity on a scale we have not seen before,” Wainwright said.
“It would be naïve and complacent of those in the U.K. to think such a criminal conspiracy does not involve the English game and all the football in Europe,” Wainwright said. “This is a sad day for European football,” he added.
Europol and Interpol officials said an international arrest warrant had been issued for the ringleader of the Asian syndicate so that he can be extradited to Europe to face fraud and bribery charges. Fixers typically seek to dictate a game’s result by corrupting the players or the on-field officials, and the Europol officials said Monday that roughly 425 people were under suspicion because of the investigation, with 50 people having been arrested. The scope of the investigation covered games from roughly 2008 to 2011.
Europol did not publicly identify the ringleader, but several knowledgeable law enforcement officials later said on condition of anonymity that it was a man based in Singapore known as Dan Tan. They said Tan had been implicated in match-fixing cases dating to 1999. An organized crime syndicate based in Asia is believed to be the driving force behind the fixing activity, which stretches across at least 15 countries, Europol officials said. Individual bribes were, in some instances, higher than $136,000, and fixers would place bets on the tainted matches through bookmakers in Asia.
The conclusion of Europol’s investigation comes after a slew of high-profile incidents. Last month FIFA, the sport’s governing body, barred 41 players for fixing matches in South Korea; in December 2012 the president of the South African Football Association was suspended after FIFA determined that four exhibition matches before the 2010 World Cup had been fixed; and last summer a complex match-fixing network was discovered in Italy, rocking that country’s high-profile professional leagues. Various matches in Africa, Asia and South and Central America were identified as suspicious, and Declan Hill, a Canadian journalist and the author of “The Fix: Soccer and Organized Crime,” said his reporting on the subject — which was included in Europol’s investigation — had not previously indicated such widespread fixing among national teams.
In addition, German prosecutors had previously identified dozens of cases, although it was not clear how many of those, or the ones also previously cited, were included in the tally of 680. The country with the most cases identified by Europol was Turkey, with 79; Germany was next, with 70, followed by Switzerland, with 41. Cases were also cited in Belgiuim, Croatia, Austria, Hungary, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovenia and Canada. “That number, that 150 international games, says to me that it is not just players and officials that are being targeted,” Hill said in an interview. “It is also team officials. With that many instances, it seems clear that there is more organization where a team official is guiding something.”
To rig the matches, officials said, the criminals operated a sophisticated organization, employing some people to deal with players and referees, others to handle money and place bets, others to carry out money laundering, on up to a strategic command at the top. Europol did not publicly identify the ringleader of the Asian syndicate, but several knowledgeable law enforcement officials later said on condition of anonymity that it was a man based in Singapore known as Dan Tan. They said Tan had been implicated in match-fixing cases dating to 1999. Interpol has issued an international arrest warrant for Tan, but Tan has not yet been detained.
Declan Hill, a Canadian journalist and the author of “The Fix: Soccer and Organized Crime,” cautioned too that North American fans of the game should not assume match-fixing is only a problem overseas. There have been instances of match-fixing in a lower-level league in Canada, and Hill said his reporting has indicated that several players in Major League Soccer have been approached by gamblers in recent years. The conclusion of Europol’s investigation comes after a torrent of high-profile match-fixing incidents. Last month, FIFA, the sport’s governing body, barred 41 players for fixing matches in South Korea; in December 2012 the president of the South African Football Association was suspended after FIFA determined that four exhibition matches before the 2010 World Cup had been fixed; and last summer, a complex match-fixing network was discovered in Italy, rocking that country’s high-profile professional leagues for the second time in six years. Italy also endured a vast match-fixing scandal in 2006.
According to Hill, there have been no instances of fixed games in M.L.S., though there have been reported incidents in the Concacaf Champions League, a regional tournament in which M.L.S. teams participate. There have also been instances of M.L.S. players giving gamblers information that could affect a game’s outcome, like an unreported injury to a key player, Hill said. In addition, German prosecutors had previously cited dozens of cases, although it was not clear how many of those, or the ones also previously identified, were included in the tally of 680. The country with the most cases identified by Europol was Turkey, with 79. Germany was next, with 70, followed by Switzerland, with 41. Cases were also cited in Belgium, Croatia, Austria, Hungary, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovenia and Canada.
Dan Courtemanche, a spokesman for M.L.S., said that last year the league enrolled in an early-warning system that monitors betting worldwide for indicators of potential match-fixing and that this year the league is instituting rules that ban the use of cellphones and electronic communication from the locker room beginning an hour before kickoff of games. Soccer, according to several bookmakers, has often been thought of as a sport ripe for fixing because it is so low-scoring, thus making it easier for one or two players to manipulate the outcome of a game.
Hill, the journalist, cautioned that North American fans of the game should not assume match-fixing is a problem only overseas. There have been instances of match-fixing in a lower-level league in Canada, and Hill said his reporting had indicated that several players in Major League Soccer were approached by gamblers in recent years.
According to Hill, there have been no instances of fixed games in M.L.S., though there have been reported incidents in the Concacaf Champions League, a regional tournament in which M.L.S. teams participate.
Dan Courtemanche, a spokesman for M.L.S., said that last year the league enrolled in an early-warning system that monitors betting worldwide for indicators of potential match-fixing and that this year the league will institute rules that ban the use of cellphones and electronic communication from the locker room beginning an hour before kickoff of games.
“While we have faith in the integrity of those associated with M.L.S., we will not ignore what has already transpired around the world,” Courtemanche said. “We are not so naïve as to think we are immune.”“While we have faith in the integrity of those associated with M.L.S., we will not ignore what has already transpired around the world,” Courtemanche said. “We are not so naïve as to think we are immune.”

David Jolly contributed reporting from The Hague.

David Jolly contributed reporting from The Hague.