Europol probing 380 matches

The European police agency has revealed that a wide-ranging investigation into match fixing has uncovered more than 380 suspicious matches.

These games include Word Cup and European Championship qualifiers and two UEFA Champions League games.

Europol's chief Rob Wainwright said the investigation uncovered "match fixing activity on a scale we have not seen before."

Wainwright revealed the probe uncovered around £7million in betting profits and £1.27m in bribes to players and officials and has already led to several prosecutions.

The investigation identified about 425 corrupt officials, players and serious criminals in 15 countries.

Wainwright also stated that the involvement of organised crime "highlights a big problem for the integrity of football in Europe".

It was not immediately clear how many of the matches mentioned have been revealed in previous match fixing investigations at a national level in countries including Germany and Italy.




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UEFA team of the year 2012

For the first time, no players from the Premier League have been named in UEFA.com's team of year.



This is the 12th edition of the UEFA team of the year, with nearly half a million visitors to the body's official website casting 5.3 million votes on Europe's best XI.



Eight of the final line-up ply their trade in La Liga, with Barcelona's Lionel Messi and Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo spearheading the 4-4-2 formation.



FIFA's team of the year, announced this month, was composed entirely of players from La Liga.



UEFA.com's team of year:



Goalkeeper: Iker Casillas (Real Madrid)



Defenders: Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid), Gerard Pique (Barcelona), Thiago Silva (AC Milan/Paris Saint-Germain), Philipp Lahm (Bayern Munich)



Midfielders: Andres Iniesta (Barcelona), Xavi Hernandez (Barcelona), Andrea Pirlo (Juventus), Mesut Ozil (Real Madrid)



Forwards: Lionel Messi (Barcelona), Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid)

UEFA bans player for life

Maltese footballer Kevin Sammut has been given a life ban for trying to throw a game against Norway, European football's governing body UEFA has announced, citing a ruling from one of its disciplinary tribunals.



The judgment bans the 31-year-old player from "football-related activity for life for breaching UEFA's principles of integrity and sportsmanship", the organisation said in an online statement.



The decision on appeal, which covers only football activities in Europe, went much further than a lower tribunal ruling in August that barred Sammut from the sport for 10 years.



Both the player and UEFA's disciplinary director had appealed against the original ruling, the statement read.



The match under investigation was a UEFA European Championship Group C qualifier in Oslo in June 2007, which Norway won 4-0.



The sport's world governing body, FIFA, is expected to consider extending the decision to a global ban, the UEFA statement continued, before adding that an appeal could be lodged against Monday's decision by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.



UEFA's appeals body meanwhile upheld the lower tribunal's ruling that there was not enough evidence against two other Maltese players, Kenneth Scicluna and Stephen Wellman, to take disciplinary action.