Has match fixing in football raised its ugly head once again?

As reports by the ‘Europol’ (Europe’s law enforcement agency) show that almost 700 professional football games ‘may’ have been fixed in recent years, by leading betting syndicates from Asian countries, the ongoing investigations bring back memories of the ‘Calciopoli’ scandal, which had hit Italian football in 2006.

Juventus, at the heart of the scandal, were demoted to Serie ‘B’, and were stripped of their two league titles (2005 and 2006), whereas other clubs such as AC Milan, Fiorentina, Lazio and Reggina were punished heavily too.

Though Italy redeemed itself by winning the World Cup that very same year, the scandal, the first in many years, sent shockwaves across Europe.

Juventus later won the Serie B title, and made a swift return to top flight football, thanks to stalwarts like Alessandro Del Piero and Pavel Nedved.

So, as the Europol continues its investigations for traces of fixing in recent matches, a Champions League group game involving Liverpool and Debrecen in 2009 has come under the radar, for alleged involvement by Asian bookies.

Debrecen keeper, Vukasin Poleksic, was allegedly approached by bookmakers to let in more than a goal against the Reds at Anfield.

But Liverpool won 1-0, and though nothing could be proved against Poleksic, he later confessed that he was approached by bookies on many occasions, to throw matches, and was given a two year ban, for failing to inform authorities.

Poleksic may just be one of many players ‘influenced’ or ‘paid up’ by international bookies, to perform poorly, and as recent reports show, a Singaporean bookie named ‘Dan Tan’, may be the ring leader behind this world wide betting scam.

Poleksic has been approached by bookies on many a occassion!

Tan, who goes by his original name of ‘Tan Seet Eng’, has previously been involved in fixing matches throughout Europe, and also has a big gang of bookies, who fix matches at his beck and call.

Though an arrest warrant has been issued by the Interpol against Tan, he still remains unharmed in his native Singapore, protected by connections to ‘powerful’ people in the country.

Also, former bookie Wilson Perumal (who was arrested for aiding Tan), confessed that the Singaporean gets his orders from an even bigger boss called as ‘Mr X’, the head honcho of match fixers in Asia.

Perumal, who was arrested in Finland, was a part of a huge betting ring run in Asia!

Perumal, arrested for fixing games in Finland, is just a small part of a huge betting syndicate, which may just come into light, provided the Europol and other crime fighting agencies like the Interpol, do succeed in gathering enough evidence against people like Tan.

And it certainly will be a day to rejoice if match fixing does get rooted out of football and sport as a whole, restoring some much needed integrity back to the ‘beautiful game’