UEFA bans Ukrainian referee for life
Published:Thursday | March 18, 2010 | 6:36 PM
The Union of European Football Association (UEFA) has banned Ukrainian referee Oleh Orekhov from all football activities for life today for helping fix matches.
UEFA says its disciplinary panel used information from ongoing investigations by German police into match fixing and corruption in the case.
The European football authority says Orekhov was charged with breaching \"principles of loyalty and integrity,\" but did not specify which matches were involved.
Fraud and organised-crime officers in Bochum, Germany, have been investigating more than 200 matches played in at least 11 countries.
When the scandal broke in November, UEFA identified seven suspicious games played in the Champions League and Europa League between last July 16 and Aug. 6.
Croatian betting syndicates are suspected of bribing players, coaches, referees and other officials to fix games, and are believed to have made at least 10 million euros.