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Bochum, Germany - Around 200 football matches in nine European countries including at least three Champions League games are implicated in a new match-fixing scandal, German prosecutors said on Friday.
Uefa expert Peter Limacher told a press conference in Germany that the revelations represented "clearly" the worst ever match-fixing scandal in European football.
The suspect matches took place in Germany, Belgium, Switzerland, Croatia, Slovenia, Turkey, Hungary, Bosnia-Hercegovina and Austria, netting criminals several million euros (dollars) in betting profits, prosecutors believe.
They include 12 matches this season from the Europa League, formerly known as the Uefa Cup, one qualifying game for the under-21 European championship and four from the German second division.
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'the revelations represented "clearly" the worst ever match-fixing scandal' Police carried out around 50 raids on Thursday in Germany, Britain, Switzerland and Austria, arresting 15 people in Germany and two in Switzerland. More than a million euros in cash and property were seized.
A network of some 200 people is suspected of influencing matches and placing bets on them with bookmakers in Europe and Asia. Prosecutors have reason to believe that players, coaches, referees and officials were offered bribes.
Two of those arrested in Thursday included two Croatian brothers living in Berlin, Ante and Milan Sapina, who were at the centre of a match-fixing scandal that rocked Germany in 2004, newspapers said.
Harald Stenger, a spokesman for the German Football Federation (DFB), said on Thursday: "As far as the DFB knows, no German matches are affected."
But prosecutors are scrutinising 32 matches in Germany, including two in the second division, three in the third, 23 games in regional leagues and two under-19 clashes.
German daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung reported that one of the games being investigates was a friendly between German side SSV Ulm against Fenerbahce Istanbul in July.
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