Police expose Europe's biggest football match-fixing ring

By Karolos Grohmann

BOCHUM, Germany (Reuters) - A match-fixing ring with more than 200 suspected members fixed or tried to fix around 200 matches across Europe, including three in the Champions League, in what UEFA called the biggest betting scandal in Europe.

Bochum state prosecutor Andreas Bachmann said at a news conference on Friday initial estimates put the illegal gains at about 10 million euros (9 million pounds) but he added that the figure was just "the tip of the iceberg."

Police in Germany, Britain, Austria and Switzerland cracked down on the ring on Thursday, staging simultaneous raids that resulted in 15 arrests in Germany and two in Switzerland.

Officers also seized one million euros in cash or goods as part of the investigation into the suspected manipulation of games across nine European leagues.

Some 50 properties were searched in the four countries.

"We at (European soccer's governing body) UEFA are stunned by the magnitude of this," UEFA representative Peter Limacher told reporters at a Bochum police news conference on Friday.

"This is undoubtedly the biggest match-fixing scandal that European football has ever seen. Now we must do everything to make sure those referees, players and officials are taken to justice."

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