Bosnian Football Hit by Match-Fixing Arrests

Twelve people were arrested in Bosnia on Monday on suspicion of fixing the results of football matches in the top two tiers of the Bosnian championship, a spokesman for the Bosnian State Investigation and Protection Agency, SIPA, told BIRN.

The arrests were the culmination of a year-long investigation - codenamed 'VAR' in apparent reference football's new video-assisted refereeing technology - into bribe-taking by referees and officials and alleged illegal acts by managers and officials of the Bosnian Football Association.

The alleged match-fixing took place in the country's Premier League and the First Leagues of the two entities that constitute Bosnia - the Federation and the Republika Srpska.

"The arrested are suspected of the criminal offence of Organized Crime, that is, of framing the results of football matches," said SIPA spokesman Luka Miladinovic.

The prosecutor's office told Bosnian media: "The investigation found that the suspects repeatedly requested and received certain sums of money in order to influence a favourable result for a particular football club."

Local media reported that the focus was on the 2018/2019 season of the Federation First League and that a number of top referees were among the suspects.

Searches were conducted at several locations, including private properties owned by referees and officials of the Bosnian Football Federation, in the capital Sarajevo as well as Brcko, Novi Travnik and Orasje.

The operation was carried out in cooperation with the Bosnian Intelligence-Security Agency and with the support of the police of both Bosnian entities.

The Football Association of Bosnia, in a press release, said that such criminal activities had caused immeasurable damage.