Stockholm (AFP) – The Swedish Football Federation postponed Thursday’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 AIK, IFK Gothenburg and the police, who launched an investigation.
“The starting point for all of our games is that they’re safe and conducted in a sporting manner,” Sjostrand said.
“Based on the information we’ve received, we cannot guarantee that the IFK Gothenburg and AIK game is a safe match.”
The two teams, along with the Swedish football association, are expected to agree on a new date for the match.
Several alleged match-fixing scandals have emerged in recent years in Sweden, with investigations not always resulting in a conclusion.
IFK Gothenburg is Sweden’s second-most successful club and the only one to have won a European title (the UEFA Cup in 1982 and 1987).
However, the club has had a difficult start to this season and is currently 11th place in the championship after eight games. Stockholm-based AIK is in sixth place.
