UEFA to Probe Irregular Betting

UEFA, the governing body of football in Europe, is set to establish a special unit to investigate irregular betting patterns found in 25 matches over the past two years.

UEFA's legal affairs director Gianni Infantino said the investigation unit is scheduled to be fully operational next season.

The unit will review 25 matches from the UEFA Cup tournament - the second-most important European club football competition after the Champions League - in which irregular betting patterns were found. 10 of those matches took place in the season just started, while 15 took place last year.

The decision to establish the unit was made at a two-day meeting of UEFA's executive committee in the French city of Bordeaux.

"There is a danger within our game but we will not let irregular betting patterns or corruption affect the outcome of matches," UEFA secretary general David Taylor said at the end of the meeting.

Infantino also said the governing body would need support from the authorities, and said UEFA would be happy to cooperate with a proposed European Union police force that could be established to fight sports-related crime.