2009 European football betting scandal

"UEFA will be demanding the harshest of sanctions before the competent courts for any individuals, clubs or officials who are implicated in this malpractice, be it under state or sports jurisdiction."

The 2009 European football betting scandal was an attempt to influence the outcome of professional association football matches in Europe, and to defraud the gambling industry by betting on the results. The investigation centres on around two-hundred fixtures, including domestic league games in nine European countries: Germany, Belgium, Switzerland, Croatia, Slovenia, Turkey, Hungary, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Austria. It also involved twelve qualifying matches in the UEFA Europa League, and three in the UEFA Champions League. Peter Limacher, a spokesman for European football's governing body UEFA, described it as "the biggest match-fixing scandal ever to hit Europe."

"If results are fixed in advance, football has no further reason to exist."

The 2009 European football betting scandal was considered to be the biggest affair in European football since the 2005 football scandal of referee Robert Hoyzer and the Bundesliga-scandal in the 1970/71 season when numerous players, coaches and officials were involved in game shifts. The extent and effects were regarded as even greater than in the previous manipulations in football. Some newspapers refer to this scandal as the "biggest fraud scandal of all time" and Peter Limacher, head of the disciplinary department of UEFA, spoke of it as the "biggest fraud scandal ever in European football".

According to information from the Bochum prosecutor's office on 20 November 2009, at least 200 football matches had been manipulated in nine European countries since the beginning of 2009. The fraudsters had bribed players, coaches and officials to influence gameplay.

The two Croatian brothers Ante and Milan Sapina were arrested on 19 November 2009 and held responsible for fraud involving the betting manipulated games in Asia (provider: SBOBET with license in the Philippines and Europe, totaling about 10 million Euro. They had already been given a prison sentence after the 2005 football scandal. A further 15 persons were arrested in Germany. More than 50 house searches were carried out in North Rhine-Westphalia, Baden-Wurttemberg, Bavaria, Berlin, Lower Saxony, Schleswig-Holstein, Switzerland, Austria and the United Kingdom. Cash and assets of more than one million Euro were ceased.

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Wikipedia