UEFA has revealed the five clubs and fixtures under scrutiny in the ongoing match-fixing investigation match-fixing, with two Albanian clubs involved in one Champions League and six Europa League matches in the spotlight.
KF Tirana, FC Dinaburg, KS Vllaznia, NK IB Ljubljana and Budapest Honvd were revealed as the clubs under investigation.
In addition to the matches, UEFA general secretary Gianni Infantino also revealed there are three referees and another individual “connected to UEFA” under special investigation.
UEFA representatives met with the associations of Austria, Belgium, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Germany, Hungary, Slovenia, Switzerland and Turkey on Wednesday to discuss the investigation, with all parties agreeing to legally pursue any guilty players, referees or officials.
The seven matches of extra interest named by UEFA on its website are:
• UEFA Champions League second qualifying round: Stabæk IF-KF Tirana (21.07.2009)
• UEFA Europa League second qualifying round: Bnei Yehuda Tel-Aviv FC-FC Dinaburg (16.07.2009)
• UEFA Europa League second qualifying round: FC Dinaburg-Bnei Yehuda Tel-Aviv FC (23.07.2009)
• UEFA Europa League second qualifying round: KS Vllaznia-SK Rapid Wien (23.07.2009)
• UEFA Europa League second qualifying round: SK Rapid Wien-KS Vllaznia (16.07.2009)
• UEFA Europa League third qualifying round: NK IB Ljubljana-FC Metalurh Donetsk (06.08.2009)
• UEFA Europa League third qualifying round: Fenerbahçe SK-Budapest Honvéd FC (30.07.2009)
“At the start people were shocked about the magnitude [of the issue],” Mr Infantino said after the discussions. “I would say that at the end of the meeting there was much more reassurance, because of the fact that we are working together.
“We have to say, of course, that as a sports governing body, our tools are quite limited in what we can do. We are speaking here about organised crime, about criminal investigations – all things which have nothing to do with the tools that we have.
“We are dependent on the work that is done by the public authorities, such as the authorities in Bochum. There was reassurance at the end [of the meeting] that we are a team, we are together, we are eradicating this cancer altogether, and that we will kick it out of football.”
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