Thursday, February 7, 2013

Blatter: Most Europol cases were already handled

Britain's Rob Wainwright, second from left, director of the European police agency Europol, takes his seat prior to elaborating on findings of a probe into soccer match fixing during a press conference in The Hague, Netherlands, Monday Feb. 4, 2013. The European police agency is unveiling results of a major investigation across the continent into match fixing in football, including what it is calling "top international games." From left to right are Friedhelm Althans, chief investigator Buchum police, Germany, Wainwright, Andreas Bachmann Bochum prosecution service, Germany, and Ari Karvonen, head of organized crime investigation, Finland. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)

Britain's Rob Wainwright, second from left, director of the European police agency Europol, takes his seat prior to elaborating on findings of a probe into soccer match fixing during a press conference in The Hague, Netherlands, Monday Feb. 4, 2013. The European police agency is unveiling results of a major investigation across the continent into match fixing in football, including what it is calling "top international games." From left to right are Friedhelm Althans, chief investigator Buchum police, Germany, Wainwright, Andreas Bachmann Bochum prosecution service, Germany, and Ari Karvonen, head of organized crime investigation, Finland. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)

Britain's Rob Wainwright, director of the European police agency Europol, center left, elaborates on findings of a probe into soccer match fixing during a press conference in The Hague, Netherlands, Monday Feb. 4, 2013. The European police agency is unveiling results of a major investigation across the continent into match fixing in football, including what it is calling "top international games." The presentation will likely be one of the most comprehensive overviews yet of rigging games. Investigators from Germany, Finland, Hungary and Slovenia are presenting the results of probes into the murky world of fixing matches and the huge sums of money involved. Football already has been rocked by several match-fixing cases, most notably in Germany and Italy. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)

(AP) ? Most allegations of match-fixing raised by Europol this week had already been dealt with, FIFA President Sepp Blatter said Thursday.

"Most of the matches which they put in this tray, 600 or 800, have already been analyzed, dealt with and even were at court," Blatter said.

At Europol's briefing in the Netherlands on Monday, the police liaison agency said it knew of 380 suspicious matches played in Europe in recent years and 300 more worldwide, including national team matches under FIFA's jurisdiction.

Europol did not identify matches it suspected were corrupted, fuelling widespread speculation about which teams were involved and if new allegations had been uncovered.

Blatter acknowledged that match-fixing for illegal betting scams was "pure delinquency," which presented a serious danger to the sport.

"We're fighting against that," Blatter said in French. "Because if the matches are fixed, there's no more interest in going to watch football."

Blatter also said countries should change their laws to help soccer prosecute match-fixing cases.

He spoke a day after FIFA launched a website for whistleblowers to report suspicions of fixing and corruption among its 209 member nations.

The FIFA leader visited Mauritania on a tour of African countries before attending the Cup of Nations final Sunday in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2013-02-07-SOC-Blatter-Match-Fixing/id-4a1f9bf46ebf4f6b8a8fd6fb8669ccf9

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