German Lower Leagues Match-Fixing

September 27, 2024
10:17 AM
Junaidi Saraswati

German authorities are investigating match-fixing in 17 football matches. The lower leagues involved are 3. Liga, Regionalliga and Oberliga.

Undoubtedly, Germany is one of the super powers of football. With international success, legendary personalities, and 57% of the population interested. Not to mention a system that extends to lower league levels that other countries do not even have. Some of them are actually so interesting, that they have been included in the offers of the top Asian and European bookmakers. That’s until the news broke out about an extensive German lower leagues match-fixing problem. When the number of bettors is expected to reach 12.2 million by 2029, addressing this issue promptly is crucial.

Hamburger Morgenpost broke the story of German Lower Leagues match-fixing

The newspaper posted a report on July 7 suggesting that certain individuals were manipulating results for gambling purposes. The post went as far as mentioning that the story goes back to November 2022 and extends to 3 leagues:

Liga (Germany’s third division),
Regionalliga (fourth tier), and
Oberliga (fifth tier).

Indeed, the German authorities have confirmed that they are examining 17 matches under suspicion of manipulation linked to sports betting platforms. Additionally, local authorities in Hesse and Saarland are investigating other “doubtful” matches within their regions. Meanwhile, the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) is coordinating the investigation.

The Targets are Referees, Goalkeepers and Defenders

In the matches under analysis, authorities are scrutinizing strange refereeing decisions and unusual behaviors from goalkeepers and defenders. They believe that discussions among the manipulators occurred digitally on the dark web, with chat protocols reportedly revealing that illegally obtained winnings were to be paid in cryptocurrencies. Additionally, another newspaper, the Hamburger Abendblatt, reported two incidents in the local fifth-tier Oberliga Hamburg where so-called data scouts were present at games. They were relaying live information to betting platforms, and once they were ordered to leave, betting on the games was no longer possible.

Admittedly, The German Football Association (DFB) stated that it had no concrete evidence yet, but was in contact with the authorities and its monitoring partner, Genius Sports. “Further comment is not possible due to the ongoing investigations,” as per their announcement.

17 years after the last incident of match-fixing

This event brings back memories of Germany’s notorious 2005 match-fixing scandal. In that incident, former referee Robert Hoyzer manipulated matches in the second division (Bundesliga 2), the German Cup, and the Regionalliga. Furthermore, he was collaborating with a segment of the Croatian gambling mafia. The penalty was 2 years and 5 months in prison. To prevent similar occurrences, the German Football Association (DFB) and other organizations implemented stricter monitoring and anti-corruption measures.

Obviously, it is too early to determine the outcome of this new investigation. Or whether it will have the same impact as the 2005 scandal. However, there is one link between both cases: betting on amateur sports. While this is illegal in Germany, the legislation does not apply to foreign betting firms. Therefore, until there is a solution to this loophole, the potential for lower-league match-fixing remains high. Mainly because players and referees earn little to no money. Consequently, this makes them more susceptible to manipulation.