Soccer probe alleges flagrant match-fixing

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THE HAGUE, Netherlands, Feb. 4 (UPI) -- More than 400 people, including players, are suspected of conspiring to fix hundreds of soccer matches around the world, Europol said Monday in the Netherlands.

Officials said qualifying games for the World Cup and European Cup and two Champions League matches were among those fixed.

Europol, the European Union's law enforcement agency, which has headquarters at The Hague, said about 680 matches have been identified as possibly fixed, including 300 outside of Europe

They said at least 425 people from more than 15 countries took part in the match-fixing, The New York Times reported.

Club and match officials as well as current and former players are among those suspected of involvement.

Asian criminal syndicates made millions of dollars by betting on the mixed games, officials said.

It wasn't clear how many of the suspect matches were new discoveries and how many were already known to have been fixed.