UEFA is cooperating in what is potentially one of the largest game-fixing scandals to ever be revealed in a high-profile international sport.

Particularly interesting is what can not be mentioned in articles such as this one concerning the details and logistics of the briberies and extortions.

Other articles mention that one of the ways the "fixers" attempted to control the players or officials was to catch them in "compromising positions" and threaten to reveal them if that player or official did not throw the game in their desired direction.

This suggests there may be video still out there that the authorities may not have confiscated in time for it to be copied.

Here or in England this would almost certainly lead to some scandalous videotape going viral on the Net. The German's are more stoic and probably more careful. Still this calls to mind the many suspicions about closeted gay German soccer players. And the fact that Germany is the source of the prosecution makes this very interesting.

SL, the lack of coverage of this story here in Britain is very worrying. It should be top story; instead you really have to hunt for it. Makes you wonder why its been buried.

Some of the raids took place in Britain along with other countries suggesting that the organized fixing was widespread. Though no arrests were made in GB it does raise serious suspicions.

How can this be so widespread and not have occured in the country where the most money per capita is made on the sport? Does Britain have better controls already?

Or is there so much money involved in the fixing that it spills over to corrupt the regulators?

As I said, this could get nasty.

Matthew Le Tissier, one of the most talented players of the 90's for those who dont know, admitted recently he had bet on matches he played in, though only on things like which team got the first throw-in, (not the result). Easy money - kick off, pass to a teammate who slices the ball out of play, bet won. No charges were brought lol. Three lower division players were suspended for betting on their Div 3 match between Accrington and Bury.

But probably the tip of the iceberg and I should imagine theres very little desire on high to confront the issue.

Some of the tactics used are apparently much more subtle than the ones gaining the voluntary collusion of players like Mr. Le Tissier. For instance the bribery of team medical and training staff to use sedatives to involuntarily affect a players abilities - sort of like steroids in reverse, if you will. And now the revelations of the involvement of Chinese gangs takes this to a level that may put it beyond the abilities of western authorities alone to eliminate it, unless there is full cooperation from the nations in which these operatives are based. With computer technology they can hide their activities just about anywhere they have an internet connection. And this may not remain limited to minor leagues or small countries:How long before this arrives at the door of major sporting events around the world if not stopped now? I personally believe that USA pro and college sports needs to be more aware of what is happening to combat our more sophisticated form of game-fixing. We have seen very little of the blatant sort that we see now in UEFA, but that may have to do more with the type of game-fixing here rather than the extent.

Yes, the bookmakers do sometimes report games because of "irregular betting patterns" and it is often internet betting from the Far East.

Conspiracy theorists used to allege that all Spanish League games were fixed (or centrally scripted if you prefer) under Franco' dictatorship with the players and referees getting their instructions from league HQ about 40 minutes before kick-off - time and order of goals, scorer, sendings off, substitutions.

A couple of quotes of note as this mess ticks along:

From a normally business-oriented website that doesn't seem much concerned about the corruption on Wall Street:

And this one which I believe hits the nail on the head about the reason for this upsurge in corruption:

So there are a lot of wealthy people in Asia who have nothing better to do with there money. What surprise!

And now a possible link to a murder over a year ago in football "obsessed" Newcastle. The use of the two minute time-delayed broadcasts in Asia to profit seems eerily like the market-manipulating stock trading on Wall Street that uses superfast computer trading to profit from making nothing in fractions of a minute.

Edit to add: How bad is this? Canada couldn't score against Macedonia even when the refs may have been bribed to give them more penalty kicks.

Ouch!

Power corrupts? Maybe change that to "money corrupts". The bettors were Chinese with money to 'kill'.