Norway’s football federation announced that it will approach UEFA over suspicions of match-fixing during the Europa League game between Aalesund and Albanian side Tirana.

Tirana are suspected of having deliberately lost last Thursday’s third preliminary round 5-0, after the national lottery Norsk Tipping alerted the federation about unusual betting patterns, particularly from Asia, during the match.

Norsk Tipping spokesman Einar Busterud told AFP that suspicions were raised because the chances of a team winning 5-0 were low but there were such large numbers of bets on the result that the odds fell.

According to the federation and Norsk Tipping, which organises betting on football matches, Aalesund were not suspected of wrong-doing.

Questioned by the Verdens Gang newspaper, Tirana official Salih Dagani rejected allegations of match-fixing, instead blaming the result on the disadvantage of playing on artificial turf, lack of food and empty mini-bars in the team hotel.

On July 27, Norwegian police said they had arrested an official bookmaker as part of an investigation into alleged match-fixing involving two local third division games in which four footballers have already been implicated.