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By Andrew Warshaw
March 10 – FIFA have opened disciplinary proceedings against six match officials in relation to a possible match-fixing charge following an investigation into two international European friendlies.
The games under suspicion are Bulgaria against Estonia and Latvia against Bolivia, both of which which took place last month.
Authorities were alerted due to unusual betting patterns on the two games, held at the Turkish resort of Antalya.
Bulgaria and Estonia played out a 2-2 draw hours after Latvia had beaten Bolivia 2-1.
Strangely, all seven goals came from the penalty spot and FIFA have turned the matter over to their Disciplinary Committee.
At the time, Estonian Football Association spokesman Mihkel Uiboleht admitted there had been concern about the matches claiming that “unusually big bets” had been placed.
“The friendly was organised by an agency with whom we will not work any more,” said Uiboleht.
“We received information of possible manipulation even before the game as the same agency also organised the match between Latvia and Bolivia and there was the same scenario there.”
FIFA’s announcement came just days after delegates at an International Olympic Committee (IOC) meeting on combating illegal and irregular sports betting were reportedly “shocked” to hear of the full extent of the problem from an Interpol source.
The meeting – which involved Ministers from the British, Australian, French and Swiss Governments, international organisations including the United Nations, and betting operators -heard that last year’s figure for illegal betting was an estimated $140 billion (£86 billion).
Jacques Rogge, the IOC President, underlined the urgency of the problem, addressing what he described as “a big problem in the entire world.
“There is illegal betting where there is broadband internet.”
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