Liverpool have made it clear that they have had no contact from Europol or any other organizations over the match fixing allegations surrounding their 2009 Champions League match against Debrecen.
After going through a wide range of investigations for 18 months, Rob Wainwright, director of Europol, revealed yesterday that more than 420 match officials, club officials, players and criminals from more than 15 countries are suspected to be involved in the racket of match fixing.
A Champions League fixture played in England also comes under scrutiny though they didn’t reveal which game they suspect of corruption, mainly because of on-going judicial proceedings.
While it created a shock wave around England, Danish newspaper Ekstra Bladet dropped a big bombshell that Europol are looking to probe into the match played between Debrecen and Liverpool, where the Hungarian side lost 1-0 at Anfield in 2009.
According to them, Liverpool skipper Steven Gerrard missed some presentable chances and police have discovered that people behind the match fixing bemoaned the fact via text messages.
The goal keeper of Debrecen, Vukasin Poleksic, was banned for two years in 2010 by UEFA for failing to report the match fixing allegations for a different game. He was allegedly paid to fix the match against Italian side Fiorentina who won 4-3 on that night.
There was no suggestion that anyone associated with Liverpool was involved with such heinous crime and wrongdoings.
A Liverpool spokesman said as quoted in the press:
“We have had no contact from Europol or any other organisation over this.”
Meanwhile it emerged that highest Football governing body in UK, The FA were not aware of such kinds of probe in England. A spokesman said:
“The FA are not aware of any credible reports into suspicious Champions League fixtures in England, nor has any information been shared with us.”
FIFA, the highest footballing governing body in the world has called for tougher prison sentences for those found involved in match fixing crimes.
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