UEFA probes 40 match-fixing cases

European football’s governing body UEFA are investigating some 40 cases of suspected match-fixing involving games in the Champions League and UEFA Cup.

Peter Limacher, UEFA’s head of disciplinary services, told a conference here that most of the cases were from eastern Europe and involved the early qualifying rounds of the Champions League and UEFA Cup.

Limacher said: “It is mainly clubs from eastern Europe that are being investigated.”

A year ago the number of games being investigated was 25, and UEFA announced they were to set up a six-man special investigation unit to examine corruption in their competitions.

Limacher told the World Sports Law Report conference that there were now 40 games where suspicious betting patterns had been identified, 15 of those in the last two years.

Macedonian club FK Pobeda were banned from European competition for eight years by UEFA in April after being found guilty of match-fixing against Armenian side FC Pyunik in 2004 – they lost 3-1 at home in a Champions League first qualifying round.

FK Pobeda’s president Aleksandar Zabrcanec was banned for life from any football-related activity, as was the player Nikolce Zdraveski.