UEFA Names Five Clubs in Match-fixing Probe

(WFI) UEFA today named five clubs suspected of involvement in rigging seven European club competition games.

The clubs are Albania’s KF Tirana and KS Vllaznia, FC Dinaburg of Latvia, NK IB Ljubljana of Slovenia and Hungary’s Budapest Honvéd.

They were involved in one Champions League qualifier and six Europa League qualifiers, between July 16 and August 6 2009.

"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,” UEFA’s general secretary Gianni Infantino said in a statement Wednesday.

The announcement followed a three-hour meeting on the match-fixing and betting scandal at UEFA’s Nyon headquarters. It involved representatives from the nine national football associations – Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Hungary, Slovenia, Switzerland and Turkey – named last week by German authorities as having domestic league matches under investigation.

In September, European football's governing body revealed it was launching a probe into 40 fixtures. They are among the 200 games across Europe that German prosecutors said last week they are investigating for match-fixing. Thirty-two matches in Germany alone are under scrutiny.

UEFA also said today it was examining the possible involvement of three referees and one other official in the match-rigging scandal.

UEFA said it had been assisting German police and authorities with its Betting Fraud Detection System that has been monitoring all UEFA competitions and European national league first and second-division matches for irregular betting patterns since July 2009.

“At the start people were shocked about the magnitude [of the issue]," Infantino said after the discussions with the nine FAs Wednesday. “There was reassurance at the end [of the meeting] that we are a team, we are together, we are eradicating this cancer altogether, and that we will kick it out of football."

In a detailed statement after the meeting, the governing body added: “UEFA and the national associations will not refrain from taking severe action within their responsibility and UEFA will provide assistance and co-ordinate matters in all procedures whenever necessary.

“UEFA and the nine associations are fully committed to eradicating these malpractices that are threatening the game. No distinction will be made as to whether this malpractice originates from a player, an official or any other individual.”

Euro 2012 logo launch
The logo and branding of the 2012 European Championships will be unveiled Dec. 14, UEFA announced today.

The competition’s slogan will also be presented at the ceremony in the Ukrainian city of Kyiv. Ukraine is co-hosting the championships with Poland.

UEFA president Michel Platini, Grigoriy Surkis, president of the Football Federation of Ukraine, and Grzegorz Lato, president of the Polish Football Association will present the Euro 2012 logo and visual identity to the media and the general public on Mykhailivska Square.

Holders Spain will be among nine top seeds in the Euro 2012 qualifying draw in Warsaw on Feb. 7. Nine groups will be formed in the qualifying draw including six sections of six teams and three of five, as teams seek 14 finals places alongside co-hosts Poland and Ukraine.

Written by Mark Bisson

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