Just How Corrupt is European Football?

By: Daryl | November 20th, 2009

euro corruption It’s difficult to answer that question with any precision. But seems the answer is “a lot more corrupt than we realized”. Because German prosecutors think it’s corrupt enough that 200 games of European football need to be investigating. Including 12 in the Europa League and at least three in the Champions League. Yes, that Champions League. The one with the fancy music.

According to the BBC:

On Thursday police carried out about 50 raids in Germany, the UK, Switzerland and Austria, making 17 arrests and seizing cash and property.

Fifteen of those arrested were in Germany and the other two in Switzerland.

Matches under investigation were played in Germany, Belgium, Switzerland, Croatia, Slovenia, Turkey, Hungary, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Austria.

Officials said the games included the 40 which Uefa revealed in September were under investigation.

Prosecutors believe a 200-strong criminal gang has bribed players, coaches, referees and officials to fix games and then made money by betting on the results.

The investigation is being carried out by German authorities and supported by Uefa, the European football body.

I suppose we should be happy that someone appears to be doing something about corruption rather than letting it fester. But this stiill sends a shiver down my spine. As someone who consumes a lot of football and spends a good part of each day either thinking about or blogging about the beautiful game (though very rarely are the thinking and blogging related unfortunately) it’s a little frightening to think I’m expending so much time and energy on something that’s corrupt.

It also helps put the whole Thierry Henry handball business into perspective. Yes, Henry broke the rules and gained an advantage. But when you compare a handball offence to actual bribery and match fixing, it’s clear that some forms of cheating are considerably worse than others.

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Category: World Football

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william r

so we hear that over 200 games played in europe have high possibilities of being fixed,so much so that arrests have been made and assets seized.This is all very refreshing to hear,however the real losers are the public the two divisions supporters and those who gamble.Two questions will fans get there money back for being cheated?and will all the gamblers who lost money on the fixed matches recieve there money back due to the fact that matches were in all probability on bet in play internet gambling sites,or will we contue to be cheated as all too often we the public get nothing returned to us.I gamble on football but always in the hope that all is fair am i fool?I believe now that i have been but to be beaten in a bet through cheating and fixing is a most dishonourable way in which to lose,and if i have been cheated then im not so much of a fool to accept it i will be contacting my bookmaker i would also like a list of the games deemed to have been corrupted as my firm keeps a record of all matches i bet in.
william r

Ithink that online betting companys are the main reason that football corruption and many other sports are corrupt for example take rugby bet in play games where tries are few and far between and in football where if a single goal will suffice then that is all there will be where top players wont score and if they have a clear chance of scoring will either put it wide high straight to the keeper or play a poor pass intentionally to do nothing more than follow orders not to upset online betting margins.A team that is often superior can fluff so many chances to make things look like it was unlucky in a game just dragging out time poor in every department and in this case nothing can be done its a perfomance the way that they miss a shot that most men on the street would score easily then the hands on head to suggest their dismay at missing its all a show for the fans and it happens all the time day after day and nothing can be done about it. and they have so many options miss kick, slip ,poor pass ,high, wide ,or straight to keeper and it must soley be at the managers request to do so it seems an unwritten law between bookmakers and clubs.
Peter

Actually it is much easier than this, with the explosion of spread betting you only have to get one official to disallow a goal, or even give a corner and he can make a fortune! This season particularly it seems rife. Just look at how many disallowed goals there have been this year compared to previous years. Something smells here and it isn't sweaty football boots!
Dan

I do remember coming across an article on gambling related match fixing a couple of years ago, unfortunately, I can't remember which publication it was in off the top of my head.

Supposedly, when the players are the parties responsible for altering the match, it only takes a couple of them to be drawn into the conspiracy to suitably fix the result.

So you can have a striker paid to miss chances, or a goalkeeper and a defender paid to make a couple of timely errors, with the other 9 or 10 players unaware of what's going on.
alex

corruption runs FIFA, whether u like it or not
Johonna

Yikes! I was trying to naively cling to the idea that the players were victims in all these sorts of shenanigans.
Daryl

Johonna, according to the BBC report, it's suspected to involve all three.
Dan

The really troubling question here is what measures can be taken to prevent this from happening? It seems like the situation favors the conspirators, in that the damage is done by the time they're found out.

Unless every match is scrutinized with the same level of attention that goes into fixing it, which isn't remotely practical, is there anything that can be done?