Police bust the biggest soccer match-fixing ring in Europe

Police in Germany, Britain, Austria and Switzerland staged simultaneous raids, arresting 15 people and seizing one million euros (US$1.49 million) in cash or goods as part of an investigation into the suspected manipulation of games across nine European leagues.

Bochum police said at a news conference on Friday that 200 people were suspected of being part of the ring that tried to rig about 200 matches.

Some 32 matches in Germany's lower divisions as well as dozens of first or second division matches in Turkey, Bosnia, Hungary, Croatia Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia were under investigation.

The investigation, which unearthed what UEFA representative Peter Limacher called Europe's biggest ever betting affair, included only matches played in 2009.

“We at UEFA are stunned by the magnitude of this,” Limacher told reporters.

Twelve matches in the Europa League, the second-tier club competition behind the elite Champions League, were also under suspicion, Bochum police official Ralf Ziegler said.

In 2005, Germany was rocked by a betting scandal involving Bundesliga referee Robert Hoyzer, who rigged matches as part of an international illegal betting gang and was sentenced to two years and five months in prison.

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