Six people have been charged with their involvement in match-fixing two second-tier matches four years ago involving Hvidovre IF football club and their games against Vejle Boldklub and FC Hjørring
According to Copenhagen Police, the six people made about 900,000 kroner, while a Filipino organisation gambled between two and three million kroner on one of the matches. Hvidovre’s former goalkeeper, Lasse Krogh, is among the six involved.
“I can confirm that he has been charged and denies guilt in the matter,” Casper Andreasen, Krogh’s lawyer, told Berlingske newspaper.
“The charge has been a long time coming [about six months]. I’m not sure anything will come of this because I believe the case looks pretty weak.”
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Betting against Hvidovre
The police were made aware of the situation after one of the six charged, a 27-year-old referred to as MT, confessed. Four of the others charged have pleaded not guilty, while the fifth did not want to reveal his position.
The first game in question was Hvidovre’s match against FC Hjørring on 24 October 2010 – a match in which the six had agreed Hvidovre would concede at least four goals. It finished 2-4 and the six earned about 300,000 kroner.
The second match was Hvidovre’s 0-5 thrashing at the hands of Vejle on 14 November 2010 – a game in which the six agreed Hvidovre would lose by at least two goals. That result netted the six about 600,000 kroner.
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Innocence lost
Jens Sejer Andersen, the founder and head of the international corruption in sport organisation Play the Game, lamented the match-fixing news.
“If it is true, then we are talking about a long-awaited loss of innocence for Danish football,” Andersen said.
“Most people who work within sport have been aware that match-fixing would eventually come to Denmark.”
The case is scheduled to be heard in court on December 19.
