Ukraine's NSC Olimpiyskiy Stadium will host Saturday's Champions League final.GETTY IMAGES
Thirty-five Ukrainian football clubs, including five in the country's top flight, "have been accused of being involved in a match-fixing operation," according to the BBC. Neither Ukrainian Premier League champion Shakhtar Donetsk nor 15-time winner Dynamo Kiev are among those named. Officials "carried out raids" on Tuesday and later said that "criminal gangs were involved in widespread match-fixing." Authorities claim the operation "uncovered five criminal groups involved in at least 57 cases of match-fixing involving more than 300 people." Ukraine Minister of Internal Affairs Arsen Avakov wrote on Facebook, "Club presidents, former and current players, referees, trainers and commercial organizations were involved" (BBC, 5/22). The AP reported UPL clubs Vorskla Poltava and Zorya Luhansk "face being removed from next season's Europa League by UEFA," which can disqualify clubs implicated in match-fixing. Vorskla Poltava has direct entry into the group stage and Zorya Luhansk is currently in the third qualifying round. The governing body said in a statement, "UEFA was aware of the investigation and continues to support the FFU (Football Federation of Ukraine) in its coordination with Ukrainian public authorities in taking this important action in the fight against match-fixing" (AP, 5/23). INSIDE WORLD FOOTBALL's Mark Baber reported Ukrainian Deputy Police Chief Ihor Kupranets said that "nobody had been arrested and it was up to prosecutors whether charges would be brought against the suspects." FFU President Andriy Pavelko "put a positive spin on the news," saying, "Today is a historic day for Ukrainian football. This is the start of a systemic clean-up of Ukrainian football from a problem that was rooted in it for years" (INSIDE WORLD FOOTBALL, 5/23).
