Nenad Pralija, the ex-Croatian international midfielder and former official at first division side Split, was detained yesterday in connection with a probe into bribery and match-fixing, media reported.

The national anti-graft bureau USKOK has been probing alleged corruption by Pralija, a police spokeswoman said without elaborating.

Pralija’s arrest is part of an ongoing probe into the rigging of matches and bribing referees, national television said.

As part of the investigation another three top football officials were detained in the past month.

They include Croatia football federation (HNS) vice-president Zeljko Siric and the head of the national refereeing association, Stjepan Djedovic.

Pralija, 41, started his career in his hometown club of Split, joining Hajduk Split in 1993 before leaving after three seasons for Espanyol.

He also later played for Reggina and Maccabi Haifa, and won 11 caps for the Croatia national side.

He resigned as Split’s sports director in August 2011.

Last December, a Zagreb court found 15 former players and officials guilty of fixing Croatian first division matches and sentenced them to jail terms of up to 10 months.

Croatia launched a probe into suspicious games in late 2009 after receiving information from German police.