Police halt football match-fixing operation in Spain

Spanish police have dismantled a match-fixing scheme that involved players and clubs in the country’s lower leagues.

Working in conjunction with Europol, police this week detained over 20 people involved in the operation.

According to ESPN, the matches under scrutiny took place in the third and fourth divisions during the current 2017-18 season and the 2016-17 campaign.

It has been reported that the scheme involved a number of Chinese betting sites.

LaLiga, which operates the top two divisions of Spanish football, said in an official statement: “LaLiga wants to manifest the extraordinary work done by the national police regarding the complex dismantling of an organised group dedicated to criminal activity focused on obtaining financial gain by predetermining results in soccer games in the country.

“This police operation demonstrates that the systems for the protection of integrity created by LaLiga, in order to protect the cleanliness of all Spanish football competitions, have been crucial in the detection and reporting the games alleged to have been tampered.”

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