Euro soccer probe finds link to organized crime

THE HAGUE, Netherlands -- A wide-ranging match-fixing investigation has uncovered more than 680 suspicious soccer games -- including World Cup and European Championship qualifiers and two Champions League games -- and found evidence that a Singapore-based crime gang is closely involved in match-fixing, Europol said yesterday.

The investigation by Europol, the European Union's joint police body, found 380 suspicious matches in Europe and another 300 questionable games elsewhere, mainly in Africa, Asia and South and Central America.

"This is a sad day for European [soccer]," said Rob Wainwright, the head of Europol. He said criminals were cashing in on soccer corruption "on a scale and in a way that threatens the very fabric of the game."

Europol said 425 match officials, club officials, players and criminals from at least 15 countries were involved in fixing the European soccer games beginning in 2008. The agency declined to name specific suspects, teams or games because of continuing investigations.

It was unclear how many of the 680 games mentioned were previously known to have been tainted, but the public announcement shed light on the murky underworld of match-fixers. The probe uncovered $10.9 million in betting profits and $2.7 million in bribes to players and officials and has already led to several prosecutions.

Those numbers are far lower than many previous estimates of the amount of cash involved in match-fixing and betting on rigged matches. Prosecutors said the amounts they named were what they could directly pin down through emails, paper trails, phone records and computer records.