Europe soccer engulfed with match-fixing betting scandal

File photo shows Milan Sapina as he arrives before a trial of German  soccer referee Robert Hoyzer in a local court in Berlin, November  17, 2005. A match-fixing ring with more than 200 suspected members  fixed or tried to fix around 200 matches across Europe, including  three in the Champions League, in what UEFA called the biggest  betting scandal in Europe. Police in four European countries  staged simultaneous raids and arrested 15 people as part of a  match-fixing investigation encompassing nine European leagues,  Bochum police said on November 20, 2009. German media reported  Milan Sapina and his brother Ante were among the arrested.  Picture taken November 17, 2005. REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann/File

BERLIN, Nov. 20 (Xinhua) -- Europe was riddled with a soccer match-fixing betting scandal involving more than 200 suspected members who fixed or tried to fix around 200 matches across the continent.

The matches concerned included three in the UEFA Champions League.

Police in Germany, Britain, Austria and Switzerland staged simultaneous raids, arresting 15 people and seizing one million euros (1.49 million US dollars) in cash or goods in the betting affair across nine European leagues.

Bochum police said Friday that 200 people were suspected of being part of the ring that tried to rig about 200 matches.

Some 32 matches in Germany's lower divisions as well as dozens of first or second division matches in Turkey, Bosnia, Hungary, Croatia, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia were under investigation.

Twelve matches in the Europa League, the second-tier club competition behind the elite Champions League, were also under suspicion, Bochum police said.

In 2005, Germany was rocked by a betting scandal involving Bundesliga referee Robert Hoyzer, who rigged matches as part of an international illegal betting gang and was sentenced to two years and five months in prison.