Int`l crime organization suspected in global match fixing crisis

Korea Football Association President Cho Chung-yun said Friday that FIFA is keeping a close eye on international funds suspicious of involvement in global match fixing, saying he heard this from FIFA security chief Chris Eaton.

Eaton has long carried out crime investigations at Interpol and is in charge of match fixing probes. He recently visited Korea to cooperate with FIFA in creating a system to prevent such cheating in Korea.

FIFA said an international criminal network appears to be behind global match fixing.

“I heard from Eaton that a global match-fixing organization is moving to South America from Southeast Asia and China,” Cho said, but added he was unaware of the size of the funds and how the scam works.

If this organization exists, whether it was involved in the K-League`s match fixing will be investigated. This is because if the criminal organization moved to South America, it probably did so because of stronger crackdowns in Europe, Korea and China.

FIFA is going all out to eradicate match fixing. The U.K. daily Guardian recently said Asia serves as the foundation of match fixers and emphasized that the main purpose of soccer`s world governing body is to root out these organizations. This suggests that match fixing in Asia is spreading to European countries, triggering side effects.

Claims have surfaced that a gambling organization in Southeast Asia is behind match fixing in neighboring countries. No detailed information has been released yet of the scandal spreading to Europe, however.

With reports of match fixing in Greece, Turkey and Finland, FIFA is increasingly aware of the crisis. FIFA President Sepp Blatter pledged strict anti-corruption measures, warning that soccer can collapse if fans cannot trust the results of games.

FIFA plans to inject 20 million U.S. dollars over the next 10 years to fight the problem.

Match fixing in European soccer is at a seriously worrisome level. A high-ranking German soccer official said that over the past several years, 300 games are suspected of being fixed in 20 countries. In Greece, 60 people including two club owners were arrested last month.

In Europe, match fixing has prevailed in lower league clubs but is known to have spread to the English Premier League, UEFA Champions League and the Europa League.

Worse, national team games are also under suspicion. A case in point is a June 2 friendly in which Argentina lost to Nigeria, 4-1. Young players are also increasingly finding it hard to resist temptation.

Interpol investigated alleged match fixing last year in World Cup soccer games in Malaysia, China, Singapore and Thailand, sending 5,000 people to prison, seizing 27.5 billion won (25.96 million dollars) in cash, and closing a number of casinos. A combined 2 trillion won (1.89 billion dollars) was used by there gamblers.

bluesky@donga.com