Match-fixing fear hits Sweden

The Swedish Football Federation postponed yesterday's top-flight game between Gothenburg and AIK following a match-fixing attempt.

"This is a very serious attack against Swedish football and we will never, never accept this," Hakan Sjostrand, secretary general of the federation, said in a statement.

One of AIK's players had been offered "a large sum of money" in exchange for trying to ensure that the team lose the game against rivals Gothenburg, the statement said.

"With veiled threats, the fixer demanded that the player perform badly during the match against IFK Gothenburg," it added.

The football federation found out about the fixing incident on Wednesday and informed sixth-placed AIK, 11th-placed IFK Gothenburg and the police, who launched an investigation.

Several alleged match-fixing scandals have emerged in recent years in Sweden, with investigations not always resulting in a conclusion. - AFP