February 24 – Footballers in Cyprus have a 34% chance of being asked by a stranger to fix matches and a 23% chance of being approached by an official from their own club, according to a damning survey commissioned by the Cyprus Footballers’ Association.
The survey covered the anonymous responses of 419 professional footballers from an overall pool of 1,800.
Analysing the findings, CFA consultant Loizos Chrysostomou said players who get paid on time – a major problem in a raft of European countries – were less likely to agree to match-fixing.
Meanwhile prosecutors in Austria have opened an investigation into an alleged attempt to fix the result of a top-flight match involving SV Ried in the 2007-08 season.
Local reports quoted Ried coach Oliver Glasner, who was the team’s captain at the time, as saying he and his teammates turned down an offer of €50,000 ($56,800) each to deliberately lose, without revealing the game in question.
Match rigging has also hit the headlines again in Romania where anti-corruption officials have launched an investigation into a Champions League tie between Dinamo Bucharest and Lazio in August 2008.
The first leg in Rome ended in a draw and Dinamo lost the second leg 3-1 after having a 1-0 halftime lead.
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