NEWS: UEFA PRESIDENT Michel Platini has said match-fixing is the greatest scourge soccer faces.
“If the result is known ahead of the game being played, then I might as well resign, you might as well resign and the spectators needn’t go to the match,” Platini said after a meeting of Uefa’s executive committee in Madeira, Portugal, yesterday.
“The executive committee is very concerned. These manipulations are linked to betting and it’s a problem all around the world.
“We have warning systems in place, we know where the money is coming from and we have contacts with the police.
“I really believe that this is the main scourge we are facing in this decade.”
German police said last month that they had dismantled a gang with more than 200 suspected members operating in nine European leagues.
Police in Germany, Britain, Austria and Switzerland cracked down on the ring, staging simultaneous raids that resulted in 15 arrests in Germany and two in Switzerland.
Officers seized €1 million in cash or goods as part of the investigation. The ring was reported to have tried to fix some 200 matches across the Continent.
“We have established a better fraud detection system, monitoring games 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year,” said Uefa general secretary Gianni Infantino.
“We monitor 29,000 matches a year and we get information from over 400 betting companies, which we are evaluating.”
