common knowledge last few seasons

since the group stages introduced.

then this came out:

Uefa is investigating claims of match-fixing after it received a 96-page report from Interpol giving details of 15 European games the international police organisation believes were fixed.
The matches are thought to be from the Champions League, Intertoto Cup, Uefa Cup or the Euro 2008 qualifiers, and have all taken place this season. The German magazine Der Spiegel, which originally reported the claims, has alleged that most of the teams involved are from countries in south-eastern Europe, mentioning Croatia, Bulgaria, Georgia, Serbia, and the Baltic countries. Der Spiegel said betting syndicates in the Far East worth millions of euros were believed to be behind attempts to rig matches.

Article continues

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Uefa, the sport's governing body in Europe, confirmed the matches were all played this season, but would not say which competitions were affected and would not name countries or clubs involved for fear of jeopardising the investigation. No British teams have so far been linked with the inquiry.
A Uefa spokesman said: "It is correct that we are currently investigating 15 matches in co-operation with Europol." However, Der Spiegel said a total of 26 matches - 15 of them played this season and 11 in 2005-2006 - were under scrutiny.

Earlier this week, UEFA opened an investigation into the Intertoto Cup match between Bulgarians Cherno More and Macedonia's Makedonija on July 7, which Cherno More won 4-0. The Bulgarian club have strongly denied any wrongdoing. "It's an extremely unpleasant case but we think that the charges are unwarranted," Cherno More's lawyer Mihail Statev said at a news conference on Tuesday.

Uefa president Michel Platini and European Commission vice-president Franco Frattini have agreed to hold a conference next year to look at "criminal phenomena" in sport, such as money-laundering, match-fixing and illegal betting.

Posted By: SCC 28, Dec 19, 19:52:35