Europol finds 380 suspicious matches February 4, 2013 - 10:35PM A wide-ranging match-fixing investigation has uncovered more than 380 suspicious matches - including Word Cup and European Championship qualifiers and two Champions League games - and found evidence that a Singapore-based crime group is closely involved in match-fixing. "This is a sad day for European football," Rob Wainwright, head of the European Union police organisation Europol, said at a news conference in the Dutch capital on Monday. He said the investigation uncovered "match-fixing activity on a scale we have not seen before." The probe uncovered E8 million ($A10.55 million) in betting profits and E2 million in bribes to players and officials and has already led to several prosecutions. Wainwright said the involvement of organised crime "highlights a big problem for the integrity of football in Europe." He said a Singapore-based criminal network was involved in the match fixing, spending up to E100,000 ($A130,000) per match to bribe players and officials. It was not immediately clear how many of the matches mentioned have been revealed in previous match-fixing investigations in countries including Germany and Italy. Wainwright and other officials and prosecutors declined to identify any of the suspects, players or matches involved, citing their ongoing investigations. He said while many fixed matches were already known, the Europol investigation lifted the lid on the widespread involvement or organised crime in rigging games. "This is the first time we have established substantial evidence that organised crime is now operating in the world of football," he said.