English Champions League Match “Was Fixed”

You may have heard about the story in the news concerning the Europol investigation into match fixing across Europe. This particular story did not surprise me much, however my eyebrow was raised a bit when I saw that a Champions League match played in England in the last “3-4 years” was one of those being investigated.

The BBC reported that..

Some 425 match officials, club officials, players and criminals are suspected of being involved.

At a news conference in The Hague, Netherlands, Europol claimed:

• The fixed Champions League tie in England took place in the “last three or four years”;

• The identity of that match cannot be revealed due to “ongoing judicial proceedings”;

• Other “corrupt” matches included World Cup and European Championship qualifiers and “several top football matches in European leagues”;

• In Germany-based matches alone, criminals wagered £13.8m (16m euros) on rigged matches and made £6.9m in profits. Officials fear this is as the “tip of the iceberg”;

• In total 380 suspicious matches were in Europe and a further 300 in Africa, Asia and south and central America.

This has obviously led many to speculate just which match might have been the one that was fixed!

It is usually quite obvious when something is odd with the markets on Betfair and I can not recall seeing anything dodgy concerning the Champions League markets when an English team is involved that is for sure.

However, many Chelsea fans might point to a certain semi-final match back in 2009 when Chelsea were “robbed” of a Champions League final spot by Barcelona after some pretty questionable decisions that night. Although the conspiracy theorists would suggest that this was the work of UEFA who did not want a Chelsea-Man Utd Champions League final two years in a row rather then the work of a huge criminal network.

It is not likely we will ever find out exactly which match was fixed as the integrity of the Champions League brand is at stake. However, it is now being suggested by several newspapers that it was the Liverpool V Debrecen match from 2009 which ended 1-0 to Liverpool. Apparently, it was “fixed” in favour of finishing Over 2.5 Goals. A match which, on paper, probably should have finished Over 2.5 Goals that day anyway!

However, it does make you wonder if anything is totally as it seems these days!