Europol confirmed on Monday that it has been approached by UEFA, the governing body of European football, for investigations into match-fixing cases.

 

"Europol can confirm that UEFA has made contact with Europol about possible match fixing of football games," said The Hague-based police organization that tackles organized crime in the European Union, in a brief press release.

 

But it refused to give any details of the liaison, saying: "Europol has no further comments at this point."

 

"The phenomenon of game fixing in organized sports is one of the areas that Europol has on the radar as a crime on the increase," said the three-sentence press release.

 

The German magazine, Der Spiegel, reported in its Monday issue that Europol has been asked to probe into 26 games, including three in the third preliminary round of the Champions League, two in the UEFA Cup and one in the qualifiers for Euro 2008.

 

Five UEFA officials visited the Europol headquarters in November to handover a 96-page dossier outlining possible match-fixing practices, according to the German magazine.

 

(Xinhua News Agency December 4, 2007)