There have been many scandals brought to light by investigative agencies, but football is still the same – still living with match-fixing.

“Godfather” Luciano Moggi and the Calciopoli scandal in 2006

Calciopoli is the biggest scandal of Italian football, causing powerful club Juventus to be stripped of the title of the 2005 and 2006 seasons. Not only that, but Juventus was also demoted to Serie B after the judgment of the sports court. In addition to the Turin team, AC Milan, Lazio, Fiorentina and lower-ranking teams like Reggina and Arezzo were also fined in many other ways, including deducting points.

The two main figures in the Calciopoli case are Juventus’ general manager, Luciano Moggi, and another director of this team, Antonio Giraudo. The two officials created a match-fixing line involving many players, referees and even officials in the Italian football federation. Most match-fixing matches involve Juventus.

The Italian court later sentenced many players to prison and included 16 officials as well as referees. Currently, Calciopoli is still controversial in Italy when Juventus sued Inter to reclaim the 2006 Serie A championship.

Selling degrees in K-League

In early 2011, world football was shaken by the news of player Jeong Jong-Kwan’s passing away because of his involvement in matchmaking at the Korean Championship. In the letter left, Jeong admitted that he had engaged in match-fixing. Previously, police also accused him of transferring money from some brokers who sold matches to players competing in the K-League national championship.

In the ensuing investigation, a total of 11 players committed the offense. 10 of them were forced to hang up their shoes for life, while the other was banned from playing for 5 years. Eight of these are on the same team, Daejeon Citizen.

Officials and referees fix matches in China

Two famous Chinese football referees and about 20 other former officials were arrested in a campaign to clean up Chinese football in 2011.

Accordingly, referee Huang Junjie is accused of accepting a bribe of 160,000 pounds to arrange matches in the international framework and in the Chinese national championship. Prominent among these is a friendly match that the famous MU team participated in in 2007. Previously, the former head of the Chinese Super League organizers, Zhang Jianqiang was also arrested by accepting bribes of up to 260,000 pounds.

This scandal seriously damaged the image of Chinese football. China Central Television CCTV refused to continue broadcasting the Super League and a series of hostels also decided to withdraw.

Italy continues to make waves because of the scandal of selling Scommessopoli

In mid-2012, the agency that sent through Italy suddenly ordered the arrest and interrogation of a series of players and football officials in this country. Prominent among them are Lazio captain Stefano Mauri, Italy defender Domenico Criscito and especially coach Antonio Conte, who has just won the Serie A championship with Juventus.

Those arrested are believed to be involved in an illegal betting network organized by Singaporean gambling magnate, Tan Seet Eng. Tan was arrested in late 2011.

European police investigate Champions League

In the early days of 2013, fans had to receive bad news when the European police (Europol) confirmed that there was match-fixing at the prestigious Champions League tournament.

Some 425 referees, club officials, players and criminals have been identified as involved. Europol says these smelly matches include World Cup and Euro qualifiers, two Champions League matches and some matches in Europe’s top leagues. The investigation has been conducted since the past 18 months.

Danish newspaper, Ekstra Bladet has just revealed information that Liverpool’s match against Debrecen 1-0 on September 19, 2009 involved a settlement. The specific character is Debrecen’s Poleksic goalkeeper.