soccer

Hundreds of angry demonstrators in Egypt's capital fought with police near the Algerian Embassy early Friday, the Interior Ministry said. The clashes in Cairo stem from tensions over Algeria's victory over Egypt in a World Cup qualifier soccer match and earlier fights between soccer fans in the North African countries. The ministry said 39 security forces were wounded in the clashes, and cars and stores were damaged in Zamalek, an island in Cairo on the Nile River.  

A massive match-fixing scandal has gripped European football. Two hundred games, all played in 2009, are being investigated by German prosecutors who say a 200-strong gang has infiltrated first and second division soccer competitions bribing referees, coaches and players to manipulate results. A high ranking official, UEFA Europa League spokesman Peter Limacher on Friday described the scandal as the biggest to hit European football.

Clearly this is the worst ever match-fixing scandal in European football. We at UEFA are stunned by the magnitude of this   -Peter Limacher

 

A massive match-fixing scandal has gripped European football. Two hundred games, all played in 2009, are being investigated by German prosecutors who say a 200-strong gang has infiltrated first and second division soccer competitions bribing referees, coaches and players to manipulate results. A high ranking official, UEFA Europa League spokesman Peter Limacher on Friday described the scandal as the biggest to hit European football.

Clearly this is the worst ever match-fixing scandal in European football. We at UEFA are stunned by the magnitude of this   -Peter Limacher

 

In what one UEFA official called European football's worst ever match-fixing scandal, investigators said on Friday criminals may have netted 10 million euros ($A16.23 million) rigging 200 games in nine countries. A 200-strong band operating across Europe is suspected of swaying matches in Germany, Belgium, Switzerland, Croatia, Slovenia, Turkey, Hungary, Bosnia-Hercegovina and Austria, prosecutors in Germany said. They include three Champions League ties, 12 matches in the Europa League, formerly the

Without doubt this is the biggest scam there has ever been in European football   -Peter Limacher

 

Curtis Hicks decided two weeks ago that there wasn't enough crowd noise at Hickman's boys soccer games, so he brought a duck call to last week's victory over Kickapoo High School. "It brought the crowd alive," Hicks said. "A few kids were like, 'That's weird.' It's one of the top (noise makers)."

We came in a little bit on our heels, in awe of the situation   -Adam Taylor

 

Ireland's hopes for a replay of its World Cup qualifier against France ended Friday after both FIFA and the French Football Federation rejected requests for another game. FIFA said it could not interfere despite a hand ball by France captain Thierry Henry that led to the decisive score Wednesday that put France in next year's World Cup. "The result of the match cannot be changed and the match cannot be replayed," FIFA said in a statement. "As is clearly mentioned in the Laws of the Game, during matche

The result of the match cannot be changed and the match cannot be replayed   -FIFA

 

German prosecutors investigating about 200 games in Europe -- including at least three in the Champions League and 12 in the Europa League -- ordered more than 50 police raids in Germany, Switzerland, Austria and Britain on Thursday, leading to the arrests. None was played in Britain. All the matches under suspicion are believed to have taken place this year, although neither Uefa nor the German authorities was prepared to specify if they were qualifying games or group-stage matches.

We at Uefa are stunned by the magnitude of this   -Peter Limacher

 

The National Association of Professional Soccer of Chile (ANFP) rejected on Friday the possibility of compensating Brazilian soccer club Flamengo after its Chilean forward Claudio Maldonado suffered an injury on Nov. 17 during a match against Slovakia. "There are rules for these situations and, for example, there are insurances. What they requests is not our obligations and it is not at the rules. We will not do something that it is not a requirement," the ANFP president, Harold Maybe Nichols said. Ma  

HIGHGATE United manager Marcus McDonald admitted feeling sorry for his players following their 4-0 defeat at Coventry Sphinx this week. McDonald maintained: "We played the best football I've seen from us since taking charge. We hit the crossbar and missed a penalty but couldn't finish. "We conceded a goal that was blatantly offside before half-time then Sphinx scored three from set-pieces after the break.