WOERDEN, Netherlands—Spurred by a tip from a Canadian investigative journalist, the Dutch Soccer Federation (KNVB) announced last week they will investigate two games in the Dutch First Division soccer league suspected of being rigged.
This could be another episode in the large bribing scandal in European soccer after German police announced last month that 200 games in the European soccer competitions were suspected of being fixed. As a result seventeen people were arrested in nine different European countries. The Netherlands was not among them at that time.
“It would be naïve to think that these things do happen in countries such as Germany and Switzerland, but not in the Netherlands ... You cannot close your eyes to that, vigilance is required here,” KNVB Director, Van Oostveen was reported as saying in a Dutch soccer magazine. The KNVB has not yet specified which games nor given further details.
Declan Hill, the investigative journalist that informed the KNVB, praised the federation for taking the allegations seriously.
Hill specializes in the study of organized crime and international issues and is author of the international bestseller ‘The Fix,’ which is about corruption in soccer.
“[An Asian gambler expert] mentioned some clubs in the lower half of the Belgian and Dutch Premier Leagues, that he claimed were fixing matches away from home, betting against themselves on the gambling market and then using the money that they won to keep their clubs afloat,” Hill wrote on his blog.
At first, allegations of match-fixing in the Netherlands met with disbelief—particularly the idea of Chinese people betting large amounts of money on games in the Dutch first division, a league that does not get much attention, even in the Netherlands.
There are, however, Chinese gambling Web sites that claim they can give the right scores for games in various European leagues, including the Dutch league, in exchange for 3,000 yuan (US$439).
“Every match, we spend huge amounts of money to sign agreements with both teams. (Inside information, guaranteed correct score) Exclusively bought deal, 100 percent guarantee!” read a Chinese gamble site called ‘05026,’ in Chinese.
The Web site is currently offline, possibly as a result of the attention received in Dutch media.
The KNVB expects to announce concrete measures they are going to take against match-fixing next month.
This could be another episode in the large bribing scandal in European soccer after German police announced last month that 200 games in the European soccer competitions were suspected of being fixed. As a result seventeen people were arrested in nine different European countries. The Netherlands was not among them at that time.
“It would be naïve to think that these things do happen in countries such as Germany and Switzerland, but not in the Netherlands ... You cannot close your eyes to that, vigilance is required here,” KNVB Director, Van Oostveen was reported as saying in a Dutch soccer magazine. The KNVB has not yet specified which games nor given further details.
Declan Hill, the investigative journalist that informed the KNVB, praised the federation for taking the allegations seriously.
Hill specializes in the study of organized crime and international issues and is author of the international bestseller ‘The Fix,’ which is about corruption in soccer.
“[An Asian gambler expert] mentioned some clubs in the lower half of the Belgian and Dutch Premier Leagues, that he claimed were fixing matches away from home, betting against themselves on the gambling market and then using the money that they won to keep their clubs afloat,” Hill wrote on his blog.
At first, allegations of match-fixing in the Netherlands met with disbelief—particularly the idea of Chinese people betting large amounts of money on games in the Dutch first division, a league that does not get much attention, even in the Netherlands.
There are, however, Chinese gambling Web sites that claim they can give the right scores for games in various European leagues, including the Dutch league, in exchange for 3,000 yuan (US$439).
“Every match, we spend huge amounts of money to sign agreements with both teams. (Inside information, guaranteed correct score) Exclusively bought deal, 100 percent guarantee!” read a Chinese gamble site called ‘05026,’ in Chinese.
The Web site is currently offline, possibly as a result of the attention received in Dutch media.
The KNVB expects to announce concrete measures they are going to take against match-fixing next month.
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