The issue of national identity is taken seriously by Balkan people – including the least serious among them.
Croatia Launches Match-Fixing Probe
Zagreb | 23 November 2009 |
The investigation comes after prosecutors in the German city of Bochum expressed suspicions that on the 26 April a game between Hajduk and Zadar was rigged for the purposes of making illegal profit from betting, the hina news agency reports.
In what one UEFA official called European football's worst ever match-fixing scandal, investigators said on Friday that criminals based may have amassed 10 million euros rigging 200 games in nine countries.
Prosecutors in Germany said a 200-strong band operating across Europe is suspected of fixing matches in Germany, Belgium, Switzerland, Croatia, Slovenia, Turkey, Hungary, Bosnia-Hercegovina and Austria.
They include three Champions League ties, 12 matches in the Europa League, one qualifying game for the under-21 European championship and four from the German second division.
Investigators are also looking at dozens of other matches, including 14 in Croatia’s first division, and eight in Bosnia and Herzegovina’s.
Zadar’s head Reno Sinovcic has dismissed the allegations and other ootball club chiefs in Croatia have denied reports their games are being investigated by UEFA, football’s governing body.
