A British tabloid is reporting that Premier League footballers are betting thousands with on-site bookies. The Sun quotes a former England international as saying: “They aren’t match fixing, they just like to bet on the one subject they know something about. At one club, we had a bookie who would come to the training ground and lay our bets with a bookmaker.” The mystery player also said that injured players enjoy the “buzz” of gambling as it replaces the one they get from playing the game.
European football’s governing body UEFA has stepped up an inquiry into match fixing surrounding a Euro 2008 qualifier. Two prosecutors flew to Malta earlier this week to probe the fixture between Norway and Malta at the Ullevaal Stadium, Oslo. Norway scored three in the last 20 minutes of the game and the probe stepped up after it was revealed three Malta players met Croatian fraudster Marijo Cvrtak in a hotel prior to the game. Malta FA president Norman Darmanin Demajo told a press conference that the association’s probe had found “overwhelming evidence” that showed fixing may have taken place.