UEFA, the region’s governing body for the sport, revealed that it had handed over a list of 26 matches to Europol that may have been influenced by Asian betting syndicates. In a statement, UEFA said that an early warning system implemented several years ago to detect unusual betting patterns flagged several matches in the preliminary of UEFA club competitions — which could potentially include the Champions League, UEFA Cup, and Intertoto Cup.
“In one case, a second round UEFA Intertoto Cup match, the disciplinary inspector considered the circumstances serious enough to bring the case before the UEFA Control and Disciplinary Body,” the UEFA statement read, adding that further investigations will be carried out before a final decision is made about the 26 matches in question.
According to the Telegraph, 15 of the suspected games were played during the current season with the other 11 occurring over the last few years. Most of the teams concerned came from Bulgaria, Serbia and Croatia. German magazine Der Spiegel, which broke the news, said that five UEFA officials had flown to Europol’s headquarters in The Hague in early November to hand over a 96-page dossier detailing each case and the methods used to rig the games. Millions of euros went to the Asian betting syndicates following these games.