UEFA says Fenerbahçe match on suspected list

An executive of European football’s governing body said Wednesday that a Europa League qualification game between Fenerbahçe and Hungarian Honved is suspected to have been manipulated.

The target of the investigation is not Fenerbahçe but Honved, a Turkish Football Federation, or TFF, executive board member said.

“We have serious doubts over the Fenerbahçe-Budapest Honved game,” UEFA Secretary-General Gianni Infantino said at a press conference after an emergency meeting in Nyon, Switzerland.

Football officials from nine countries held an emergency meeting with UEFA Wednesday about Europe's biggest match-fixing investigation. UEFA invited national association leaders from Turkey, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia, Croatia, Germany, Hungary, Slovenia and Switzerland to the summit.

“There are five Europa League qualification games under probe and we are confident that the federations will do what is necessary on the matter,” said Infantino. “We are also trying to determine all the games manipulated in nine national leagues in Europe. This is the biggest match-fixing scandal European football has ever faced.”

Yunus Egemenoğlu, a TFF board member who participated in the meeting, told NTV Spor channel that seven teams were discussed at the meeting and Fenerbahçe was not one of them.

“I cannot say much due to the confidentiality agreement, but we were informed and we took our notes,” he said. “I will directly inform TFF President Mahmut Özgener and he will take the necessary steps.”

Other suspected teams include KF Tiran and Vllaznia of Albania, Dinaburg from Latvia and Slovenian Ljubljana.

Meanwhile, an Ankara prosecutor has launched an investigation into three football matches in lower divisions for alleged match fixing.

Spor Toto Directorate, which runs Turkey’s official betting organization İddaa, last week filed complaints against five people for match-fixing allegations. In its complaint, the directorate said the suspects fixed three Division Three games played in December 2008, Torbalıspor-Mustafakemalpaşa, Bulancakspor-Ünyespor and Ceyhanspor-Batman Petrolspor.

The Turkish Football Federation had earlier been informed about the issue, but did nothing “due to lack of solid evidence,” the directorate’s petition read.

The Ankara prosecutor’s office said Wednesday that an investigation was launched into the suspects and the games mentioned.