Multiple Premier League footballers have been accused of match-fixing by the former head of a specialist international crime unit, who has made some astonishing claims in a new report.
Fredrik Gardare, who once led a Swedish police team investigating organised crime in sport, says a 2021 raid on an illegal casino uncovered incriminating evidence that has since been ignored.
He claims multiple mobile phones were confiscated during the raid, and one in particular was said to have 'extensive evidence' on messaging app Telegram of players co-operating with a criminal over fixing games across Europe, including the Nations League.
Speaking to the Daily Mail, Gardare says the discovery was the most "clear-cut" case of corruption he had seen in a career spanning hundreds of investigations, adding that it "doesn’t get any clearer" than being found on a seized phone.
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“There was more than one Premier League player (found on the phone),” he claimed. “Betting on yellow cards, corners and other aspects in matches. That phone is either sitting with Stockholm police or the national police force.”
Gardare, who believes the evidence should have been acted upon immediately by the relevant authorities, now wants answers as to why it has been shelved.
"It was very high priority from my side, I set my whole team on this investigation," he added. "But at the same time, the police said, “We are finished with this” in December that year.
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"We also gave the information to the football federation here in Sweden directly and said, 'This is serious'. Hopefully they called the English FA, but I don’t know."
He added: "This is important for both Swedish football and football in several countries. It’s important for England and international football to stop ongoing match-fixing."
Johan Claesson, the Swedish FA integrity officer, has commented on the claims.
He said: "It is correct that the Swedish FA, back in 2021, received general intelligence from the police that they had found information regarding match-fixing on both national and international level in a phone after a raid against an illegal casino, but the intelligence we received did not contain any specifics (due to the secrecy of the on-going police investigation) that we could act on."
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The FA has not received the investigation’s findings from Swedish police but are keen to assess them, according to the report.
SPORTbible has reached out to the Premier League and the FA for comment.
Topics: Premier League, FA
Jack Kenmare