LARGE POLICE OPERATION TARGETS ALLEGED MATCH-FIXING IN BULGARIA

A police operation of unprecedented scale has shaken the football circles in Bulgaria just before Christmas. On 10th of December 2014, 9 people were arrested and held for 24 hours. Among them was the defender of CSKA, Alexander Tunchev, the captain of “Lokomotiv Plovdiv”, Martin Kamburov, and Kiril Kotev from “Cherno More”. Bulgaria’s Ministry of Interior (MoI) sources confirmed for BNT, that managers of football clubs and heads of fan clubs of elite football teams were also among the arrests.

Pre-court proceedings have been initiated on the case. The police operation was carried out in 6 cities in Bulgaria. Objects and documents were seized. MoI suspects that the 9 people who were detained were allegedly involved in the activities of the criminal group.

On 11th of December, the management of “Cherno More” came out with an official position regarding the questioning of Kiril Kotev. Representatives of the Club commented that with their permission the footballer went to Chief Directorate “National Police”. After giving a statement to the police on the same date about his previous job, Kiril Kotev will join his team for a training session. The team is preparing for an important away game vs CSKA in the capital city of Sofia.

The suspicions of the police are focused on the football team “Lokomotiv Plovdiv” and “Lyubimets” team, which dropped out from the A group last season. The management of “Lokomotiv Plovdiv” categorically denied involvement in suspicious games. “There is no way the team was involved in black lottery”, the administrative director of “Lokomotiv Plovdiv”, Atanas Uzunov told BNT. “Surely, it is about an old case ”, he added. His assumption is that members of the football team were interviewed in relation to a letter by UEFA and FIFA concerning the case of “ Marek Dupnitsa”.

The operation of the Bulgarian police was undertaken in cooperation with the European football governing body, UEFA. UEFA's integrity officer Urs Kluser told BNT that in the recent year UEFA worked well and in close cooperation with the Bulgarian investigative authorities, the police and BFU. “Before undertaking specific steps however we will need evidence to be provided by these institutions. They are doing a wonderful job and have done everything possible so far and I believe it will result in disciplinary actions on our behalf as well”, he said.

Kluser preferred to not present examples of fixed matches in Bulgaria, before the end of the investigation. More football players as well as Konstantin Dinev, the former owner of Lokomotiv Plovdiv are expected to be interviewed by the police.

This is the third case in 2014 related with suspicion on match-fixing. The first one was when the teenage footballer Steven Petkov was taken out of the team before the start of the European Championship over allegations of attempts to manipulate the match vs Germany and then the football club “Marek” was fined with 10,000 BGN. The reasons were UEFA’s suspicions that the team from Dupnitsa played in fixed matches.

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