German police investigate reports of alleged match-fixing in lower-league soccer games

DÜSSELDORF, Germany (AP) — Police in Germany are investigating potential match-fixing in lower-league soccer games after a newspaper reported that the scores of allegedly fixed games may have been sold online for betting purposes.

The Hamburger Morgenpost newspaper reported Friday that message logs detailed the apparent sale on the “dark web” of information up to 17 games ranging from the third division to regionalized fifth-tier competitions.

The newspaper didn’t publish the messages and didn’t identify any games or teams, but said some games included refereeing mistakes or unusual goals.

Police in the southwestern state of Saarland said in an emailed statement they were investigating one game which had taken place there.

Prosecutors in the state capital, Saarbrücken, said the investigation followed information about the potential manipulation of lower-league games across Germany “presumably for the purpose of facilitating sports betting fraud.” The prosecutors’ office did not identify the game in question, citing a need to protect the ongoing investigation.

Police in the central German state of Hesse told German news agency dpa that they were examining two games which took place there.

The German soccer federation said in an emailed statement that it was in contact with the authorities regarding possible match-fixing but did not yet have “robust information” about specific cases.

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