Austria questions 20 players over match-fixing
Baku, November 29 (AZERTAC). Twenty current and former footballers in the Austrian league are being treated as suspects over match-fixing and up to 17 first and second division matches could have been manipulated in the last seven years, criminal investigators said Thursday.
The revelations came one day after the arrest of defender Dominique Taboga, who was released by first division SV Groedig two weeks ago over match-fixing allegations.
Altogether, six people are currently in custody in connection with the case, including former Austria international forward Sanel Kuljic and two Albanian citizens, investigators and state prosecutors told a news conference in Salzburg.
Investigators said that the 17 matches under suspicion included nine in the Bundesliga, the top flight of Austrian football, of which three were played this season involving Groedig.
These were Groedig`s 3-0 defeat by local rivals Salzburg in October, their 1-1 draw at home to Wolfsberger earlier this month and their 2-2 draw against Rapid Vienna, also this month.
The remaining eight games were all in the Erste Liga, the second tier of Austrian football. Nine of the 17 matches involved former Bundesliga club Kapfenberger, relegated at the end of the 2011-12 season.
Federal criminal investigator Andreas Holzer told the news conference that a list of 30 players had been found in Operation Rinas as police carried out house searches in Vienna, Salzburg, and the provinces of Carinthia and Lower Austria.
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