More match-fixing took place in England than anywhere else this season, according to a damning report presented at the European Parliament on Tuesday.
Eleven English games were found to have fallen victim to betting fraud by Federbet, an organisation of top European casino owners and bookmakers which monitors suspicious gambling patterns.
That was more than was identified in any other country, providing a devastating blow to English football’s reputation for integrity.
Ten of the fixtures named by Federbet took place in the Conference North and South, the level of the game at which an investigation by the Telegraph last year sparked an ongoing trial in which several players are accused of corruption.
The other was a Women’s Super League game, Notts County v Everton on April 20, the first time women’s football has been publicly implicated in match-fixing.
Two League of Wales games were also identified as having been corrupted, taking the UK’s total of ‘fixed’ matches to 13.
Federbet, which is based in Brussels, accused football’s authorities of failing to do enough to tackle match-fixing after finding the number of rigged fixtures across Europe rose sharply in 2013-14.
Including several Champions League and Europa League ties, 110 matches were identified as having been fixed, with suspicions over a further 350. The total of 460 possibly-fixed matches was up 20 per cent from the previous year, Federbet said.
Its general secretary, Francesco Baranca, added: “Every day, all around the world, there is an attempt at match-fixing. And this virus is getting bigger and bigger.” The red-flagged Champions League and Europa League ties were all from the qualifying rounds, with the highest-profile match rigged found to be Catania v Atalanta in Serie A.
Other matches in Italy were also identified, as well as several in France, Portugal, Greece and Ukraine. Read more at The Telegraph.
