Soccer-Bulgarians held for illegal betting, not match-fixing

SOFIA, Dec 14 (Reuters) – The arrests of the Bulgarian footballers that stirred up a storm in the Balkan country this week were made for illegal betting and not match-fixing, a police chief said on Friday.

“It is about illegal betting and not manipulation of the outcomes of matches,” chief of the general directorate for combating organised crime Stanimir Florov told a news conference.

“It comes to betting on first and second division (matches),” he said before adding the group dealing with the illegal betting had been investigated for more than two months.

On Thursday, the interior ministry said players from first division Chernomorets Burgas and second tier Neftochimik, their city rivals, had been arrested for questioning in an investigation into alleged match-fixing. [ID: nL4N09N6FR]

Chernomorets players Yanko Georgiev, Nikolay Nikolov, Yani Pehlivanov, Daniel Mladenov, Preslav Yordanov, Rumen Trifonov, Georgi Terziev and Plamen Dimov and Neftochimik pair Galin Dimov and Lubomir Bojinov were all released after questioning.

“This is not the end, the investigation will continue,” said Burgas prosecutor Andrey Chervenyakov.

Chernomorets are sixth in the league with 27 points from 15 games, 11 points behind leaders Ludogorets. Neftochimik are top of the second division with 28 points from 13 matches.

Another two men, one a former Neftochimik junior player, had been arrested as organisers of the illegal ring. They were charged after confessing to the crime.

Media reports of widespread match-fixing and corruption have been rife in the Balkan country for years but no one has been brought to trial and the European Commission has criticised the authorities for doing little to fight the problem.

Last year Bulgaria passed amendments to its penal code that makes match-fixing and illegal sports betting a crime – anyone convicted of attempting to fix events will face up to six years in jail.

In September Bulgaria’s prosecutor opened an investigation into claims of match-fixing in four domestic games this season.

The first documented manipulated game in the country took place in 1949 when Levski Sofia and city neighbours Akademik drew 1-1 in order that CSKA, Levski’s bitter rivals, would be relegated to the second division. (Editing by Tony Jimenez)