And by "fixed" we don't mean made more fun or interesting to watch.
We mean "fixed" as in the outcome as pre-determined so organized crime could make money from bets placed on the game, which is legal in many parts of the world.
But unfortunately, even "fixing" the games didn't make them more interesting for American audiences to watch.
Organized crime gangs have fixed or tried to fix hundreds of soccer matches around the world in recent years, including World Cup and European Championship qualifiers and two Champions League games, Europol announced Monday. The European Union's police agency said an 18-month review found 380 suspicious matches in Europe and another 300 questionable games outside the continent, mainly in Africa, Asia and South and Central America. It also found evidence that a Singapore-based crime syndicate was involved in some of the match-fixing. Europol refused to name any suspected matches, players, officials or match-fixers, saying that would compromise ongoing national investigations, so it remained unclear how much of the information divulged Monday was new or had already been revealed in trials across the continent.
