As Handbollskanalen has revealed, match-fixing is taking place in Europe’s biggest handball competitions. According to several credible sources, independent of each other, a Swedish club team has sent a report to the European Handball Federation (EHF) after a match in Europe this autumn, a claim confirmed to Handbollskanalen by the club in question.
As previously detailed, a number of matches in European handball have been fixed this season. These are matches in both the men’s and women’s EHF Champions League and in the men’s European League and were betting-related match-fixing.
Independent sources tell Handbollskanalen that a Swedish club team sent in a report to EHF after a European match last autumn, which has been confirmed by the club.
The Swedish club considered that there were so many events during the match that did not make sense, that they chose to report the match. People from the club Handbollskanalen has been in contact with believe that they ”have never been involved in anything like this” and that they are ”100 per cent sure that the match was fixed”.
The Swedish club believes that the refereeing decisions were strange throughout the match and that the referee and delegate acted in a suspicious manner. The opponents, who were at home, finally won the match by one goal. The Swedish team had several chances to equalize but the referees called off the teams efforts for different reasons.
The Swedish club confirms
The source at the club said that the opponents then ”held on to the ball for a minute without the referee’s arm being raised for passive play”.
With a few seconds left in the match, and a one-goal lead, the home team got a free throw. They chose not to take this free throw, even though it was a double-header and each goal was important. The home team also received 14 seven meter penalties compared to the Swedish team’s three.
When the match was over, the Swedish club asked to receive a video from the match, a match that was broadcast on TV in the country where the match was played but was told that there was no video from the match.
During the match, the Swedish team received more than twice as many cards and more than twice as many two-minute suspensions as the home team. When the return leg was played in Sweden, these statistics evened out and the score was not so close.
”The investigation must look at the referees and delegate and their strange behaviour in this match”
The Swedish club reported the incident to an organisation called WhistleB. Handbollskanalen has also taken part in the reporting tool, which states, among other things:
”We do this report regarding the EHF Disclosure Policy. We do it only for the sake of fairness for handball and keeping rigged games away from our sport. We do not want any change of the results or anything. Just help EHF to defend our sport from betting and attempt to buy or threaten players, referees, delegates. We think this is obviously the case in this matter. Our coach and leaders (and players) have never in their long handball life seen something like this. In our opinion, this was 100 per cent a rigged match. There is no other explanation.”
The club also writes:
”The investigation must look at the referees and delegate and their strange behaviour in this match.”
After the report, WhistleB has investigated and forwarded the case to the EHF. But the Swedish club has not heard anything from the EHF in the intervening months.
Handbollskanalen has sought contact with the referees from this match through various channels to get their comments but has not yet received an answer.
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READ MORE: Handbollskanalen reveals: Match-fixing in the EHF Champions League in autumn 2021