Match fixing scandal plagues football

The recent discovery of widespread match fixing in international football has raised concerns about the future of the sport and even stretched to include a number of Dutch players in the list of those under suspicion of cheating. JOEP DERKSEN looks at what this scandal might mean for the beautiful game.

Who doesn’t love to watch a good round of football? Twenty-two men or women doing their utmost to get that little round object in each others’ goal. In this beautiful sport, it is not always the strongest team that wins. "The ball is round, so anything can happen," is a commonly used statement. Now it turns out that winning or losing is also a matter of deep pockets.

It was just a blink of an eye, but it confirmed for millions of football fans that the match between Olympique Lyon and Dinamo Zagreb was fixed. In the second half of the match a French player scored one of seven goals in the 7-1 victory. And the goalkeeper gave him a big wink. Olympique went on to the next round, at the expense of Ajax.

There are two types of match fixing. Players, keepers, umpires and linesmen are approached to (not) perform certain actions. This can for instance be: purposely not scoring, making sure that you’re offside at least five times in a match or committing an offence to another player. Umpires and linesmen can get considerable sums of cash if they can help the game go in a certain direction or add a certain number of minutes as extra time.

The European criminal investigation organisation Europol has researched thousands of football matches and came with a shocking conclusion: more than 380 matches in fifteen European countries on the highest level were most likely subject to match fixing. Among these were also qualifying matches for the European and World championships as well as games from the Champions League. Over 425 criminals, officials and players are involved. Most incidents (79) have occurred in the Turkish competition, but 70 matches in Germany and 41 in Switzerland have also been sold. Five Dutch sportsmen are now under suspicion as well. Director Rob Wainwright of Europol fears that the 380 matches are just the tip of the iceberg.

So far, 50 people have been arrested. The investigation lasted 18 months and at least 16 million euro changed hands illegally. An Asian crime syndicate has been alleged to be in cooperation with European criminal organisations. It is felt that this poses a direct threat to the credibility and future of football. The investigation shows that elder players in lower divisions at the end of their career are particularly subject to the temptations of match fixing. They realise that an insecure future is waiting for them after they quit playing on the football fields and an extra amount of cash will then be more than welcome. But it is not just the men in the professional football who commit these crimes; the mafia organisations also have spread out their tentacles to the amateurs, women and even youth players.

Years ago, the term "belchinees" (calling Chinese) was introduced, referring to supporters of Chinese extraction who were constantly on the phone during a football match, arousing suspicion that these men were in contact with outside parties to inform them about the progress of the game. But it could naturally also be that these Chinese fans are just calling their wives, girlfriends or children.

Maybe the Dutch legislative power will now awake from its dreams. For years requests to investigate match fixing have been declined. Minister of Safety and Justice Ivo Opstelten (VVD) wants clarity: "Why is it that Europol has five suspects and we don’t?" he asks in de Telegraaf. Now political pressure is put on the public prosecution service (Openbaar Ministerie, OM) to research match fixing in Dutch football matches.

Even the Royal Dutch Football Association (Koninklijke Nederlandse Voetbalbond, KNVB) does not dare to exclude the chance of match fixing in the Netherlands. Gijs de Jong, manager of professional football competition affairs, said in de Telegraaf on 12 December 2012: 'I can hardly imagine that the Netherlands is a blind spot where nothing is going on." Ralf Mutschke, safety chief of the world football union FIFA, confirmed this statement on 16 January 2013 in the same newspaper: "Every competition is vulnerable. The risks are low and the profits are high."

Therefore, only one question remains. How long do we have to wait before news comes out that match fixing also takes place in sports such as basketball, American football, curling and table tennis?

(Verschenen in The Holland Times, maart 2013)