17 people across Germany and Switzerland have been arrested in connection with a gambling ring believed to have fixed more than 200 soccer matches across 9 countries in Europe. Authorities believe that they have only touched the surface of the scandal which includes the bribing of players, officials and trainers. Approximately $1.5 million was recovered in more than 50 raids across the continent. According to The New York Times:
"Among the games under suspicion are three in the Champions League, the prestigious tournament for Europe’s best teams."
The good news for soccer fans of some of the most elite players and teams is
...the investigation has not uncovered evidence of match fixing in any of the top-flight leagues in England, Spain, Italy or France. The stars of the sport, paid salaries upward of $5 million, are not likely to be susceptible to bribes, officials said. They emphasized that the marquee clubs like Barcelona, Manchester United, Bayern Munich and A.C. Milan so far were not suspected of fixing games.
The scale of corruption is expected to be far bigger than anything previously assumed as the investigation is on-going.
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