Bulgarian police have arrested 13 people, including 11 professional footballers, for their alleged participation in a match-fixing ring, the interior ministry announced.

A two-month probe in the Black Sea city of Burgas found shady bookmakers organising illegal bets and players collecting stakes from their team-mates to take part in them, the ministry said in a statement.

The ring’s two masterminds were arrested as well as 11 players from the two professional A and B football leagues who were allegedly part of the ring, the statement said without providing any further details.

Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov later said that the players were from A league club Chernomorets Burgas and B league club Neftohimik, from the same city.

Dozens of other players were meanwhile being questioned by investigators to see whether they were also involved in the illegal bets, the ministry added.

Last year, Bulgaria passed amendments to its penal code that make match-fixing and illegal sports betting a crime, punishable with upto eight years in jail and fines of up to 10,000 leva (€5,000).

Until then, prosecutors had found it difficult to punish the practices, which were often exposed by the media, as they were not officially categorised as a crime.

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