By Alexander Krassimirov
December 11 – In a co-ordinated strike Bulgarian police have moved in on players, coaches and referees over the past two days, arresting nine players and detaining them for 24 hours for questioning, according to the country’s Ministry of the Interior. The unprecedented scale of the action was conducted in conjunction with the Bulgarian Football Union who were working closely with UEFA.
Among the arrested players are Martin Kambourov, Alexander Tunchev and Kiril Kotev. They are the current captains of Lokomotiv Plovdiv, CSKA Sofia and Cherno more FC. Tunchev and Kotev are both former players of Lokomotiv Plovdiv.
On Tuesday the Chief Directorate ‘Criminal Police’ in cooperation with international partner agencies and UEFA began the operation having received information about match-fixing in the Bulgarian market.
The police action took place in Sofia as well as around the country, and included the arrest of Lokomotiv Sofia players Yordan Todorov and Ivo Ivanov. Both formerly played for Lokomotiv Plovdiv, which is at the centre of the investigation into manipulating matches.
According to unofficial information, some of the suspicious games were Lokomotiv Plovdiv’s friendly matches including in Spain at the beginning of the year; a 6:1 defeat against Dinamo Bucharest, where the Bulgarian team lost two goals in a minute; and against Anzhi Makhachkala who scored three goals in two minutes.
Earlier this year on October 21, the Bulgarian Football Union fined Marek Dupnitsa BGN10 000 (€5000) for suspicion of match-fixing.
“The specialized police operation to collect and preserve evidence throughout the country started on 9 December. Numerous witnesses were questioned. There were carried out searches and seizures in six cities in the country. Property and documents have been seized relevant to the proof of criminal activity. Currently nine people are detained who can be held for up to 24 hours. They are suspected of being involved in the activities of the group. In the coming days we will make additional investigative actions in other cities. The work on the case continues,” said the official release of the Ministry of Interior.
The press officer of the Bulgarian Football Union (BFU), Pavel Kolev, added: “I can only say that everything happens with the knowledge and assistance of the BFU. It is information from UEFA to which we have added and our facts have been gathered after work by the Ministry of Interior.”
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