Welcome Guest [Log In] [Register]
Welcome to Soccer Futbol Forum. We hope you enjoy your visit.


You're currently viewing our forum as a guest. This means you are limited to certain areas of the board and there are some features you can't use. If you join our community, you'll be able to access member-only sections, and use many member-only features such as customizing your profile, sending personal messages, and voting in polls. Registration is simple, fast, and completely free.


Join our community!


If you're already a member please log in to your account to access all of our features:

Username:   Password:
Add Reply
Latest European Betting Scandal
Topic Started: Nov 20 2009, 03:15 PM (867 Views)
ursus arctos
Advanced Member
[ *  *  * ]
Article from Der Spiegel (auf Englisch)

Up to 200 matches from across Europe implicated; five people already in custody in Germany The "Cafe King" brothers who were at the heart of the Hoyzer scandal find themselves again in jail and I am left once again wondering why anyone outside of the immediate area would bet on the Regionaliga or the Finnish Third Division.

More from the Guardian. Arrests now up to 17.

And the FT.

“This is without a doubt the biggest fraud scandal to ever hit European football,” said Peter Limacher of the Union of European Football Associations. “We are deeply shocked by the scale of the match-fixing.”

Mr Limacher said the investigation could affect the outcome of the Champions League competition because all the games under investigation took place this year. They include matches in Croatia, Slovenia, Turkey, Hungary, Bosnia and Austria.

Andreas Bachmann, head of the police team in Bochum leading the investigation, said that the estimated criminal proceeds, number of games involved and circle of suspects could increase. “This is just the tip of the iceberg,” he said. “We must assume that the actual figures will be much higher.”


Official statement from UEFA.

More detail from kicker (auf Deutsch).

32 games in Germany (4 2.Liga, 3 3.Liga, 18 Regionalligen, 5 Oberligen and 2 U-19 games); 22 Swiss Second Divison (Challenge League) matches; 14 Croatian First Division; 29 Turkish First Division (presumably Super Lig); league matches in Austria, Bosnia, Hungary, Slovenia; 3 early CL qualifiers and 12 early Europa League qualifiers, as well as one UEFA U-21 match.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
libero
Advanced Member
[ *  *  * ]
Scary how extensive this is. Football's worst fear is a scandal like this which effects more than just a single team or even league but crosses borders and effects UEFA's goose which lays the golden egg- the Champions League.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
rosarino
Advanced Member
[ *  *  * ]
Wow we should be hearing about this for some time. Interesting no games in Italy, Spain, France or England were implicated and the German league matches implicated are from the lower level leagues. Maybe the money the first division players earn is what acts as a deterrent from being susceptible to payments to throw games? They make enough money where it is not worth the risk of getting caught. But for a player in the lower divisions or in eastern Europe who is not making that kind of money, the lure of extra cash can be enticing.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Mr. Pither
Member Avatar
Advanced Member
[ *  *  * ]
rosarino,Nov 20 2009
11:26 PM
Wow we should be hearing about this for some time.  Interesting no games in Italy, Spain, France or England were implicated and the German league matches implicated are from the lower level leagues.  Maybe the money the first division players earn is what acts as a deterrent from being susceptible to payments to throw games?  They make enough money where it is not worth the risk of getting caught.  But for a player in the lower divisions or in eastern Europe who is not making that kind of money, the lure of extra cash can be enticing.

That is an interesting point rosario and there may be some truth in that. From usus arctos post look at where the implicated matches are from:

32 games in Germany (4 2.Liga, 3 3.Liga, 18 Regionalligen, 5 Oberligen and 2 U-19 games); 22 Swiss Second Divison (Challenge League) matches; 14 Croatian First Division; 29 Turkish First Division (presumably Super Lig); league matches in Austria, Bosnia, Hungary, Slovenia; 3 early CL qualifiers and 12 early Europa League qualifiers, as well as one UEFA U-21 match.

I wonder if that is the Super League in Turkey, the 2nd tier league there is known as the First league. If it is the Super league that would appear to be the only league involved where there is high pay for the players (although to be honest I do not know how well average players are paid in Turkey but the better ones, both foreign and home grown are paid well). Other than that possibility in Turkey, rosario's point may be true and that could be why this betting gang targeted those leagues, the players, and apparently referees, are easier to manipulate for match rigging.

We shall be hearing a lot more about this in the coming months. This could be one of the stories of the year in the sport.

P-I-T-H-E-R ...as in Brotherhood, but with PI instead of the BRO and no HOOD
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
ursus arctos
Advanced Member
[ *  *  * ]
There's a bit of confusion over which Turkish league may be involved, but the current sense seems to be that it involves Super Lig matches, most likely between "lesser" teams. That said, another match that has come under suspicion is a pre-season friendly between Fenerbahce and Ulm that Fener won 5-0.

It will always be easier to manipulate matches in lower profile leagues, not only because the players and officials are more likely to be tempted by amounts that are much more significant to them than they are to the likes of a Premier League starter, but also because it is much easier to move a betting line on a match with relatively little interest (a standard practice in this respect is for the gang to begin by betting against the "agreed" result, thereby improving the odds, before piling in on the other side of the bet (though not so much as to cause the bookies to refuse their bets). The amount of attention given to betting patterns at this level is also a fraction of what it is in more high profile cases.

The alleged involvement of referees is another interesting aspect of the scandal, with Der Spiegel reporting today that at least one DFB-qualified referee is involved. If that proves true, it will come as a great disappointment to the German authorities, who have been working hard to minimize the risk of such problems in the wake of the Hoyzer scandal of a few years ago.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
enganche
Advanced Member
[ *  *  * ]
It will always be easier to manipulate matches in lower profile leagues, not only because the players and officials are more likely to be tempted by amounts that are much more significant to them than they are to the likes of a Premier League starter, but also because it is much easier to move a betting line on a match with relatively little interest (a standard practice in this respect is for the gang to begin by betting against the "agreed" result, thereby improving the odds, before piling in on the other side of the bet (though not so much as to cause the bookies to refuse their bets). The amount of attention given to betting patterns at this level is also a fraction of what it is in more high profile cases.


Interesting info and I imagine this is also how UEFA's mechanism to detect rigging of games is tipped off, a sudden change in money coming in for one side.

If Champions and Europa League games were effected, you wonder how that will effect this year's competition and whether the teams involved are still playing in those competitions? If these allegations are proven there should be some severe sanctions.
Prefiero morir de pie que vivir arrodillado
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Martin
Advanced Member
[ *  *  * ]
I am left once again wondering why anyone outside of the immediate area would bet on the Regionaliga or the Finnish Third Division.

:lol: proof that addicted gamblers will bet on anything!

Reminds me of going to the bleachers at Wrigley Field in Chicago (a baseball stadium) and watching people bet on whether the next pitch would be a ball or a strike!

I get the feeling German prosecutors won't let this story slowly just sink into oblivion.
Club Sportivo Desamparados
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Yogi
Member Avatar
Advanced Member
[ *  *  * ]
This article does not add too much new to the story other than the German football federation president patting himself on the back for enacting stricter penalties in the wake of the Hoyzer scandal:

http://sports.yahoo.com/soccer/news?slug=r...uters&type=lgns

The article says in Germany some U-19 matches are involved! As ursus and martin write, it really is amazing what some people will bet on!

If this extends to the preliminary rounds of the Champions and Europa League it is a very extensive scandal and should only widen as those rigged games get exposed.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Merengue
Administrator
[ *  *  * ]
The article says in Germany some U-19 matches are involved! As ursus and martin write, it really is amazing what some people will bet on!

I thouight the whole point of sports gambling was rather than being a simple game of chance, you are basing your bet on some knowledge of the relative strengths and weaknesses of the two teams? But how in their right mind could anyone have knowledge on the form of an U-19 league match? I think this proves the point addicted gamblers will indeed bet on anything.
http://twitter.com/#!/SocrFutbolForum
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Yogi
Member Avatar
Advanced Member
[ *  *  * ]
I think UEFA are leaving it up to the local federations to investigate the league matches under suspicion but today they did announce which European matches they are looking into:

http://sports.yahoo.com/soccer/news?slug=r...uters&type=lgns

From the original list of around 40 fixtures in Europe that were considered suspicious in terms of results, UEFA is today further investigating seven European club competition fixtures under its jurisdiction in more detail,” said UEFA general secretary Gianni Infantino in a statement.

“The five clubs involved are KF Tirana (Albania), FC Dinaburg (Latvia), KS Vllaznia (Albania), NK IB Ljubljana (Slovenia) and Budapest Honved (Hungary).


Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Merengue
Administrator
[ *  *  * ]
Here is an AP article noting that some belgian 2nd Division games are also in question,

http://sports.yahoo.com/soccer/news?slug=a...ov=ap&type=lgns

The article's main point, however, that match fixing is a more serious problem for the sport than doping is I think on target. If you cannot trust that the outcome of a game will be decided fairly on the field then this becomes a show like professional wrestling and not a sport.
http://twitter.com/#!/SocrFutbolForum
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
ursus arctos
Advanced Member
[ *  *  * ]
Interesting article from Der Spiegel about methods allegedly used by the gang.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Yogi
Member Avatar
Advanced Member
[ *  *  * ]
ursus arctos,Dec 1 2009
10:15 AM

I hope they actually have some evidence that this group was actually bribing people or in one instance actually paid a cook to drug a team's food so they'd perform poorly. Because the instance they cited here, the club whose food it is claimed the group was seeking to drug, actually won the match 2-0! Maybe if they ahd not been driugged they would have won 4-0! :lol:

Another instance is that the coach of Bosnia's national team was offered a €500,000 bribe to guarantee a win for Turkey against Bosnia. The coach, Blazevic supposedly turned them down and in the end Bosnia beat Turkey! So this gambling gang were not very good at manipulating matches or the more concrete evidence against them has not been supplied to the authors of this article because from what I have read there is nothing solid against their manipulation, only that they made money on gambling which is what all bookmakers do.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Merengue
Administrator
[ *  *  * ]
Yogi has a point, the incidents cited here make this gambling ring sound like a group of bumbling amateurs. Did they really manipulate matches or attempt but fail to do so? Hopefully Der Spiegel and other sources can soon provide more substantive evidence. As Yogi writes what is in the linked article only shows they made money off of gambling on games, not that they actually manipulated any results.
http://twitter.com/#!/SocrFutbolForum
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
ursus arctos
Advanced Member
[ *  *  * ]
It's still quite early in the process, and I think you can rely on the prosecutors not being eager to share their best evidence with Der Spiegel.

That said, they are clearly looking to "turn" players or other participants who may have been actively involved, such as the anonymous player referenced in the piece. In the absence of Calciopoli-like wiretaps (which don't seem to exist here), that type of first-hand evidence will be crucial to any successful prosecutions.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
ZetaBoards - Free Forum Hosting
Join the millions that use us for their forum communities. Create your own forum today.
Learn More · Register Now
Go to Next Page
« Previous Topic · UEFA · Next Topic »
Add Reply