Match-fixers targeted gambling addicted players

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — If convicted match-fixers are to be believed, cash-carrying gamblers seeking to manipulate games easily found willing accomplices in susceptible players and referees across Europe.

Several witnesses who have testified in Bochum at a trial of four men charged with fraud in what officials have called the biggest match-fixing scandal in Europe have described how they recruited players and referees.

One of their soft targets seemed to be players with a gambling problem and debts. One German player revealed this week that he received €100,000 ($129,600) from a gambler to fix five games in 2009, although he denied manipulating any games.

Rene Schnitzler, whose then-club St. Pauli was in the second division but has since been promoted, said he has been a compulsive gambler since the age of 18.

"There are many players who spend their entire free time in betting shops," a witness identified only as Mario C. told the court.

Ante Sapina, the most notorious witness, told the court that lower-division player Thomas Cichon "was for me the chief figure."

Cichon has been implicated before but has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.

Sapina was convicted as the mastermind of a match-fixing ring in Germany in 2005 and sentenced to 35 months in prison. He was released early and told the court he resumed betting large sums on manipulated games shortly after the 2006 World Cup in Germany.

Prosecutors in Bochum have said they expect to bring charges against Sapina, Mario C. and others shortly. Sapina has been in investigative custody since Nov. 19, 2009.

Sapina has described how he traveled to Sarajevo in September 2009 to meet with a Bosnian referee and arrange for the otherwise meaningless World Cup qualifying match between Finland and Liechtenstein to be fixed.

In exchange for €40,000 ($52,000), referee Novo Panic agreed to make sure two goals would be scored in the second half. The match ended in a 1-1 draw with both goals coming in the second half. One of them was the result of a blatantly wrong penalty, according to Sapina.

Panic and another referee contacted by Sapina have been suspended for life by UEFA, the governing body of European football. UEFA has declined to comment while the case is unfolding.

Prosecutors consider Sapina the major figure in the betting scene and the Croat himself has said he bet an average of €1 million ($1.3 million) a month, placing wagers on 30 games and one fixed match a week.

The various testimonies, however, have failed to clarify how closely connected individual gamblers were. Sapina has said he placed bets for others in Asia.

The Bochum trial is the first to result from a massive probe by prosecutors, who have compiled 14,000 pages of documents and are investigating more than 300 people.

"When you consider that we are investigating against 300 people and that now only four people are standing trial, then it's clear how much more work we have before us," prosecutor Andreas Bachmann said this week.