A massive scandal kicked off in Belgium last Wednesday when a staggering 57 police raids took part, both within Belgium and around Europe, related to possible match-fixing and fraud in football. 44 of the raids took place within Belgium; the remainder occurred across France, Cyprus, Serbia, Luxembourg, Macedonia and Montenegro.
The raids took place as part of a year-long investigation into football clubs in multiple European nations, with the prosecutor’s office stating that there was “a possible influencing of games” last season.
Belgium made headlines during this summer’s World Cup by making it through to the semi-final, although this investigation is not believed to have any relation to that. This scandal, it seems, centres on the relegation battle last season from the top division in Belgian football. Specific agents and coaches have been facing police questioning, and two referees mentioned in the report have already been suspended.
Some fascinating titbits have filtered through to the press from the police, such as the fact that the raids involved a variety of enterprises, including agents, referees, lawyers, accountants, jewellers and journalists. A further statement indicated that a “criminal organisation” was thought to be involved, as well as cases of so-called “private corruption.” Prosecutors say they suspect that some agents were concealing commissions on player transfers, players’ payments arrangements and other forms of payment from the authorities.
Given the huge amounts of money now involved in the sprawling and wealthy professional football industry, situations like these present an increasing challenge for those seeking to prevent corruption. Furthermore, it creates a natural draw for such corruption; at the end of the day, there’s a large amount of money to be made from being dishonest. Legendary Belgian defender Vincent Kompany even referenced a link to human trafficking as an outstanding issue in Belgium football when speaking to the press in the wake of this news. It’s not yet clear how dark this story might become.
