
On Monday Europol announced that organised crime gangs have tried to fix the results of hundreds of soccer matches around the world including World Cup, European Championship qualifiers and Champions League games.
An 18-month review was carried out by the European Union’s police agency which found 380 suspect matches in Europe and a further 300 in Africa, Asia and South and Central America.
There is also evidence that a crime syndicate based in Singapore was involved in some match-fixing.
So far Europol has refused to name any suspects as they it could compromise the on-going investigation so it is not yet known how much of the information announced last Monday is new and how much has already come to light in trials across Europe.
However, Europol did say that 425 match officials, club officials, players and criminals from at least 15 countries were involved in fixing soccer games going back to 2008.
The investigation found that $10.9 million was made in betting profits and $2.7 million was paid out in bribes to players and officials. There have already been a number of prosecutions.
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