French authorities have started an investigation into alleged fixed matches, with the epicenter being the "Saint-Germain" club in Paris and the "Crvena Zvezda" club in Belgrade.
Despite both clubs denying any allegations, the influential French publication "L'Equipe" claims that members of the "Crvena Zvezda" club may have placed a bet of up to 5 million euros that their team would lose by no less than five goals.
If the information about the bet is correct, then the leadership of the Belgrade team must have had an impressive sum, as "Crvena Zvezda" lost the match in Paris with a score of 1:6. As reported in "The Guardian," UEFA has passed the information to French authorities and they have already started investigating whether the match at the "Parc des Princes" stadium was not rigged.
"Crvena Zvezda," the main suspect in this story, categorically denies that the loss by such a large margin was part of a "plan": "With great anger and embarrassment, we want to deny the information presented in the 'L'Equipe' publication, which questions the certainty of the match result or the involvement of club executives in illegal activities.
"These statements can strongly affect the club's reputation, so 'Crvena Zvezda' urgently demands that UEFA and relevant investigative authorities in France and Serbia quickly resolve these doubts about the allegations made."
Paris Saint-Germain also denied any allegations in their official statement and emphasized that they will take all measures to hold accountable the media responsible for this information.
Interestingly, "L'Equipe" mentions in their publication that the ARJEL organization responsible for regulating online betting and gambling in France did not notice any suspicious actions in the matches of Paris Saint-Germain and "Crvena Zvezda."
