European betting scandal trial opens in Germany

Four alleged ringleaders in what is believed to be European football’s biggest fraud scandal went on trial in Germany yesterday, accused of fixing more than 30 matches across Europe.

The quartet, named only as Nuerettin G., Tuna A., Stevan R. and Kristian S., face up to 10 years in jail if found guilty of fraud in a trial that will question the integrity of lower-league football across the continent.

The trial will focus on 32 games played in Germany, Belgium, Slovenia, Hungary, Croatia and Switzerland, mostly last season, where it is alleged dozens of players or referees were bribed to influence the matches.

Bets totalling two million euros are alleged to have been placed on the matches involved, netting the gang winnings in the region of €1.6m.

The trial is part of a still-ongoing, wider investigation involving around 250 suspects and nearly 300 games in 15 countries in a surveillance operation which has spanned the continent.

Nuerettin G. is seen as a key witness and has made a wide-ranging confession, the Turk’s lawyer Jens Meggers said.

“He has good connections in Turkey. There has definitely been a lot of match-fixing there. His statements have led to 70 arrests,” Meggers said.

Most of the matches involved are from the lower divisions in the respective countries across Europe, but a Europa League and UEFA U-21 Championship qualifier have also come under the spotlight.

In the Europa League, a Group E match between Basel and CSKA Sofia on November 5, 2009, is under suspicion.

Prosecutors allege that the bribing of the referee in that match, won 3-1 by the Swiss side, earned the fixers €200,000.

And an U-21 qualifying international between Switzerland and Georgia on November 18, 2009, will also be part of the evidence against the quartet.

But the German Football Federation look to have had their blushes spared as none of the games in question are in the Bundesliga, Germany’s top domestic league, but have said they are keeping a close eye on the case.

German football still bears the scars of match-fixing after referee Robert Hoyzer was given a two-year jail sentence after it emerged in January 2005 he had rigged a German Cup match.