Football's international governing body, FIFA is launching an investigation into possible match-fixing in a qualifying game for the 2010 World Cup, reports the Russian paper Sovietski Sport. The match was played last month between Switzerland and Moldova. According to the report, the investigation was prompted by Russian betting regulators, who the day of the match noted an unusual volume of betting - $1.3 millionUSD – that Switzerland would win by two goals. Some of the individual bets exceeded $29.000USD. Within two hours, Russia's state betting authority reduced the odds for a Swiss victory from 1:8:1 to 1:2:1. Despite the drop in odds, bets continued to pour in.
Reports of the match had Moldova starting strong but with Switzerland taking advantage of scoring opportunities and winning the match 2-0, scoring its second goal on a header in the 93rd minute—in the waning seconds of extra time. The game was important to Swiss chances of keeping alive a qualifying bid for the cup in South Africa.
Warning System Triggered
According to the paper, Russian regulators reported the anomalies in betting patterns to the Early Warning System, an organization created by FIFA in July 2007 to investigate any suspicions of match-fixing.
After receiving the report, FIFA President Sepp Blatter approved the investigation. FIFA has given the match its highest rating for suspiciousness, meaning that it believes that both Moldova and Switzerland may have participated in any fixing scheme.
(For more on corruption in the world of international football, see OCCRP's series, Game of Control.)
--Michael Mehen
FIFA Launches Fixing Probe
Опубликовано: 16 Апрель 2009
