The police are investigating the Mosta-Pembroke football match played last week over possible match fixing after they were alerted to suspicious betting activity.

The alert was raised by SportRadar, an online monitoring agency, several days ago, according to Malta Football Association integrity officer Franz Tabone.

“The MFA received information from SportRadar on betting patterns that could indicate some may have had knowledge of the match outcome,” Mr Tabone said.

He told the Times of Malta that the MFA passed the information to the police as it had done on several other occasions when games were flagged. The Mosta-Pembroke game made headlines in Italian newspaper La Stampa, which quoted another online monitoring agency, FederBet, giving details on how bets had been placed on Pembroke scoring five goals.

We always pass on the information to the police, but while betting patterns may mean a lot, they may also mean nothing”

– MFA integrity officer Franz Tabone

The newspaper quoted the general secretary of FederBet predicting at least four goals in the game at 7.35pm on Thursday, April 28, an hour or so before the game got underway. Minutes after kick-off and with the score still 0-0, Francesco Baranca made another prediction: “Pembroke will score at least five goals.”

The end-of-season match was won by Pembroke 5-3 after they had trailed 2-0.

The Italian media’s interest in the game stems from the link between Mosta FC’s former team manager Adrian Farrugia and his brother Robert, who were mentioned last year in a match-fixing probe of games from Italy’s lower leagues.

More than 50 people were arrested in May last year after the Catanzaro police cracked down on a match-fixing gang that allegedly included financiers like the Farrugia brothers.

But according to Mr Tabone, betting patterns on their own were not sufficient to nail suspects.

“We always pass on the information to the police, but while betting patterns may mean a lot, they may also mean nothing,” Mr Ta-bone said.

The Swiss-based company SportRadar is the MFA’s partner in monitoring suspicious betting patterns.

Bets are monitored in real time to determine where the money is being placed and whether any particular patterns are emerging.

Last month, the police charged Valletta FC footballer Seyble Zammit over match-fixing involving the Malta U-21 national team.

He was found guilty but testified behind closed doors with information about the attempts made to fix two international matches, which subsequently enabled him to escape punishment.

In court, Mr Zammit’s lawyer described his client’s actions so: “He isn’t even the small fry – he’s fish eggs in this entire chain.”

Back in 2014, the Malta Football Association banned two Ħamrun Spartans players and two of the club’s board members for life after it found them guilty of fixing matches.