According to a report in the “Hamburger Morgenpost”, 17 matches in German football are suspected of being manipulated. According to the report, matches in the 3rd division, two regional leagues and several top leagues may have been influenced for the purpose of betting fraud over the past two years. According to “Mopo”, the German Football Association is aware of the suspicion and is taking it “very seriously”.
However, the association doubts that football matches can be manipulated to produce an exact result. In the games in question, there were apparently some conspicuous incorrect decisions by the referees or serious mistakes by goalkeepers and defenders.
Game results sold on the darknet?
Information about the expected results of the 17 games is said to have been sold on the darknet. This may have made it possible to make large winnings from betting. The relevant chat histories are said to provide evidence of the criminal deals.
Which games are under suspicion will not be made public for the time being out of consideration for the ongoing investigations. According to the “Mopo”, the DFB partner responsible for monitoring sports betting has not yet found any irregularities in random samples.
Public prosecutor’s office investigates regional league game
Last autumn, the Bochum public prosecutor’s office began investigations into unusually high bets on the regional league match between FSV Frankfurt and TSV Steinbach Haiger. At the time, the Federal Ministry of the Interior had received information from a betting provider about possible manipulation.
The betting scandal involving the then DFB referee Robert Hoyzer in 2005 had once brought the issue into the public spotlight. Later, the investigations by the Bochum public prosecutor’s office into an internationally operating gang caused a stir – matches from the 2nd Bundesliga to the Champions and Europa League were under suspicion, professional players in Germany were also banned, and fraudsters were sentenced to several years in prison.
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