As far as the regional league game between FSV Frankfurt and Steinbach Haiger (0:3) is suspected of being manipulated, the RLSW Regionalliga Südwest GmbH, as the corresponding “league sponsor”, has started investigations. She also announced on Saturday that she wanted to appoint an “independent special investigator” to “collect information for possible proceedings before the sports court of the Regionalliga Südwest”. The authorities said “appropriate investigations have been started,” the statement said.
The Federal Ministry of the Interior (BMI), which is responsible for sport, received indications from a betting provider that the FSV’s encounter with Steinbach Haiger on October 7th was possibly manipulated, a ministry spokesman confirmed to the German Press Agency. The BMI then informed the Federal Criminal Police Office. In Hesse, on the other hand, the State Criminal Police Office confirmed “knowledge of the matter, which is being processed at the Frankfurt police headquarters for reasons of jurisdiction.”
Treat “with the utmost sensitivity”.
As the “Kicker” reported, conspicuous amounts were said to have been placed on a half-time lead by Steinbach. After 45 minutes, Steinbach Haiger, which is one of the top clubs in the league, was 2-0 ahead in Frankfurt. Both the timing and the amount of stakes did not correspond to the usual pattern for matches in the fourth highest league. Betting is said to have taken place exclusively or predominantly abroad; the strong fluctuations were apparently registered in Asia. Bookmakers licensed in Germany are not allowed to offer bets on regional league games.
The RLSW Regionalliga Südwest GmbH takes “any indication of betting manipulation very seriously” and treats it “with the utmost sensitivity,” said the “league sponsor”. The suspicions about the game in question were “known to both RLSW Regionalliga Südwest GmbH and the German Football Association (DFB) before public reporting”. “The case was immediately filed with the state authorities and an internal investigation process was initiated together with the service provider.”
Since 2005, the DFB has been cooperating with service providers who monitor the international sports betting markets in the football sector. “Since the beginning of the 2019/20 season, the DFB has been working with the British sports data and technology company Genius Sports Limited,” said RLSW Regionalliga Südwest GmbH. “More than 7,500 games are monitored with regard to betting movements and activities of players on the international sports betting markets in all competitions relevant to the DFB, including the regional leagues”. The “league sponsor” is involved in this process.
It continued: “Concrete information and suspicions arising from Genius reports or other input sources will be passed on, among other things, to the responsible state authorities. There has been a trusting and well-coordinated process with the public prosecutor responsible for this issue for many years.”
Jörg Daniels, Frankfurt Published/Updated: , Recommendations: 1
The RLSW Regionalliga Südwest GmbH also highlighted that FSV, which beat VfR Aalen 3-0 at home on Saturday and is now eleventh in the table, and Steinbach Haiger “were not informed about the incident in the first step for reasons of duty of care”, “in order to first initiate the measures described”. We are now in discussions with both clubs and they have “declared their full willingness to cooperate in clarifying the matter”.
The FSV and Steinbach Haiger had stated in the past few days that they had no evidence of possible manipulation. “There are not even remotely any game situations that caused any doubts – that also includes the refereeing performance,” the Frankfurt club president Michael Görner told the FAZ before the “league sponsor’s” statement.
Because this is an ongoing procedure, the RLSW Regionalliga Südwest GmbH announced at the weekend that it would not make any further public statements about the present case until the facts had been clarified. The same applies to the “involved” clubs.
