Europol confirmed on Monday that it has been approached by UEFA,
the governing body of European football, for investigations into
match-fixing cases.
"Europol can confirm that UEFA has made contact with Europol
about possible match fixing of football games," said The
Hague-based police organization that tackles organized crime in the
European Union, in a brief press release.
But it refused to give any details of the liaison, saying:
"Europol has no further comments at this point."
"The phenomenon of game fixing in organized sports is one of the
areas that Europol has on the radar as a crime on the increase,"
said the three-sentence press release.
The German magazine, Der Spiegel, reported in its Monday issue
that Europol has been asked to probe into 26 games, including three
in the third preliminary round of the Champions League, two in the
UEFA Cup and one in the qualifiers for Euro 2008.
Five UEFA officials visited the Europol headquarters in November
to handover a 96-page dossier outlining possible match-fixing
practices, according to the German magazine.
(Xinhua News Agency December 4, 2007)