SANCTIONS LOOM UEFA confirmed for Nacional in two e-mails that it wishes to speak with Miroslav Blazevic. What is more, UEFA is threatening to sanction Blazevic if he continues to avoid meeting with them Nacional has discovered from well-informed legal sources in Croatia that UEFA representatives presented the Croatian police with extensive documentation a few days ago, chronicling a criminal element that has interconnected almost all segments of Croatian football.

UEFA submitted the materials to the Croatian police so as to initiate activities that could lead to criminal proceedings against a number of people from various levels of Croatian football. Some officials from the Croatian Football Federation, football managers, coaches and referees could find themselves under scrutiny.
For some time now, UEFA investigators have been paying special attention, among others, to the executive deputy president of the Dinamo Zagreb football club, and one of the most influential people in Croatian football, Zdravko Mamic, the general secretary of the Croatian Football Federation Zorislav Srebric, and Miroslav Blazevic, the most famous of all Croatian coaches. UEFA suspects that these three, as well as some others, participated in fixing matches. It is suspected that the match fixing was connected to profits in sports betting.

At the beginning of last week the Nacional.hr portal published information that UEFA was interested in Miroslav Blazevic, in connection to what could be the largest ever betting scandal, which was uncovered at the end of last year in Germany. UEFA directly confirmed this information for Nacional. Nacional recently obtained information that the international investigators working on the football betting affair are beginning to show interest in a number of people in Croatia, and that the investigators first and foremost want to establish contact with Miroslav Blazevic. In response to an e-mail regarding the issue, UEFA's public relations department sent Nacional the following response.

"At this time we cannot confirm that UEFA is conducting an investigation into Miroslav Blazevic. In continuation of the investigation undertaken by the German legal authority in Bochum, UEFA has contacted Mr. Blazevic, who has offered to provide the requested information. At this time we cannot reveal any details related to matches and the involvement of individuals." If he does not cooperate with UFEA, they could revoke his coaching license.
This was also indirectly confirmed for Nacional by UEFA. UEFA's response confirms that it believes that Blazevic, who was until recently the head coach of the Bosnia & Herzegovina national team, can provide useful information regarding the fixing of some matches.

Nacional has discovered from sources close to UEFA, that it has in its possession evidence that Blazevic was contacted by people who wished to reach an agreement with him to fix the match between Turkey and Bosnia & Herzegovina, in the recent qualifications for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. According to the claims made by the same sources, Blazevic agreed in principle, but ceased communicating with those people a few days prior to the game. The game was played on 9 September 2009 in Zenica and ended 1:1. That was the eighth round of the qualifications for the World Cup. Prior to the game, Spain was at the top of the standings in group eight, while Bosnia-Herzegovina and Turkey were in direct competition for second place in the group, which led to an additional round of qualification. Ahead of the match, Bosnia & Herzegovina had 15 points to Turkey's 11 points.

Had Turkey managed to win the game, their hopes of taking second place in the group would have still been alive, because the difference between the two teams then would have been a single point. However, the match finished in a draw, and the difference between them stayed at four points, which took Bosnia & Herzegovina into the extra qualification round, a monumental sports achievement for that country. In that context, unknown persons contacted Blazevic before the game in an effort to reach an agreement that would see Turkey win the game, sources close to UEFA confirmed for Nacional. In the end the game was not thrown, but the fact that attempts to do so were recorded, and that Blazevic, at first, was not opposed to the idea, and only later ceased communications with those people, sparked serious interest within UEFA. Sources close to UEFA confirmed for Nacional that they want to hear some more details from Blazevic as to who had contacted him.

They offered him a meeting on 19 January, leaving Blazevic the choice of which city and country he wanted to meet in private with them. Blazevic at first hesitated, but when presented with some of the information UEFA has acquired, Blazevic simply asked where and when he should come. Everything was to be carried out in total discretion.

Even before UEFA's investigators contacted Blazevic, they sent him a message via an intermediary that his cooperation on this issue would be very important for him. That intermediary contacted Blazevic and requested a meeting. UEFA had even prior to this meeting wanted to inform him the he need not necessarily suffer any negative consequences if he decided to cooperate. At the same time however, UEFA wanted to send him the message that if he decided to not cooperate, he could lose his coaching license. After the intermediary spoke with Blazevic on the phone, the latter no longer answered his telephone, after which he was contacted directly by a UEFA investigator. Blazevic agreed to talk. Everything was to have remained discreet, and he would not be mentioned in any context.

However, only a few days prior to the agreed date for the meeting between Blazevic and the UEFA representative, UEFA discovered that Blazevic had bought two tickets to Shanghai. They suspected that he sought to avoid cooperating with them, and decided to publicly confirm that they had contacted Blazevic, that for the time being he was not being investigated and that he had given them the information they required, in the hope that he would abandon his trip to China.

After the Nacional.hr portal published information that UEFA was looking into him, Blazevic did not react wisely. He contacted a journalist from the Sportske novosti sports newspaper claiming that none of this had ever taken place. Blazevic stated for Sportske novosti, "I was seeing off my assistant and colleague Drazen Besek who is off to Shanghai, I'm returning from the airport as we speak. With regards to the police investigation in Bochum, which was relevant one month ago, I can say the same thing that I said then. Involving me as the coach of the Bosnia & Herzegovina National Team is thoroughly tasteless. It's absurd to suggest that there was anything questionable in our qualification matches with Turkey, both in Istanbul when we lost 2:1, and in Zenica when we drew 1:1. The Turks won at home deservedly, I tip my hat to them, I lost because I didn't have a strong enough defence line after Nadarevic was sanctioned."

BLAZEVIC AND MAMIC at a time when they had very close ties. Now they are connected by a sports betting affair that has rocked Europe A detailed analysis of the text published in Sportske novosti, gave UEFA investigators reason to believe that in the same discussion Blazevic had confirmed that he had been offered 300-500 thousand euro to fix those games, even though when asked directly, he responded saying, "No one ever offered me anything. In question are some truly idiotic constructions, nonsense, and constant fabrications. There was no call from UEFA then, in the meantime or now. I have no idea why the same scratched record is constantly being played." On Monday, UEFA officially confirmed for Nacional that Blazevic had lied when he claimed that he had never been contacted.

An e-mail sent to Nacional from UEFA on Monday it states that, "UEFA contacted Mr. Blazevic and he promised that he would come to the UEFA office in Nyon when he travelled to Lyon, where he said he had some family. He took down the name and number of the representative, and promised that he would call, but he has as yet not done so. If he were to abandon talks with UEFA, Mr. Blazevic faces the risk of disciplinary measures. Whatever they may be, they can be applied throughout the world, after UEFA makes such a request of FIFA."

Translated, this means that Blazevic risks having his coaches license revoked, a source close to UEFA confirmed for Nacional.

Blazevic's statements worried UEFA's investigators, and after this an investigation into the possibility of a fix on Bosnia & Herzegovina's 2:1 loss to Turkey in Istanbul was launched. Had Blazevic not mentioned this game, perhaps UEFA's investigators would never have suspected anything. This massive sports betting affair, in which Blazevic had initially agreed to provide UEFA with requested information, was uncovered at the end of last year in Germany. In the investigation, some 200 matches played in nine countries are being probed.

At the start of the operation, German police arrested 15 people in connection to the investigation, while two were arrested in Switzerland. In a series of raids conducted in Austria and Britain, cash and other items valued at one million euro were confiscated. Right from the start, at least 200 people were suspected of involvement, including 32 players. None of the matches in question were played in Britain, France, Spain or Italy. Among the matches that are believed to have been fixed, are three Champions League matches and 12 UEFA League matches. The most attractive matches that are believed to have been rigged were played in Turkey. Also under suspicion are some matches played in the Croatian league's first division.

At the first press conference held in Bochum, broadcast live on television, UEFA officials revealed that a group comprised of organized crime figures were influencing players, referees, coaches and other officials responsible for match play, so as to acquire millions of euro on sports betting.

This affair is actually the epilogue of a month-long investigation conducted by UEFA, which Nacional wrote about in March of 2009. Nacional gained its first information regarding UEFA's large scale operation from abroad, where a Nacional journalist, through the mediation of a police official from an EU member state, met with one of UEFA's investigators. Even then, Nacional was provided exclusive information regarding the massive investigation into match-fixing, and UEFA was positive that key traces led to Croatia.

As early as March undercover UEFA investigators cooperating closely with police officials from many EU member states.

Even then it was suspected that the most responsible for manipulating match results were a Croatian group bribed coaches, players and referees. It is therefore no surprise that Ante Sapina was arrested again in November of 2009, in connection with the same investigation. Sapina is one of the protagonists of another sports betting affair that a few years ago raised international interest. Undercover UEFA investigators discovered this organised crime group while investigating possible match-fixing in Croatian and Slovenian football. Following the activities of a number of suspicious individuals, they came upon some very strong indicators that the same individuals were involved in fixing handball matches in all European handball leagues, including the handball Champions League. In March 2009, UEFA investigators sent Nacional the first information that indicated a possible suspicion that Zdravko Mamic was also involved in match-fixing. UEFA investigators suspect Mamic of having fixed some of the games Dinamo played in international competitions. Sources close to UEFA told Nacional of the two games in question, but requested that for the time being the games in question not be published in the interest of the ongoing investigation.

The same sources claim that they registered telephone calls that conclusively reconstruct how people close to Mamic, outside of Croatia, would bet on the final scores of Dinamo matches in international competitions following their conversations with him. The money was paid in at betting pools in Asia. It is claimed that this information is also found in the far-reaching documentation that UEFA submitted to the Croatian police last week.

Nacional has also discovered from a high-ranking source from the Croatian judiciary that attempts would also be made to reconstruct whether or not Zdravko Mamic effectively transformed some of his players into his personal slaves. This is suspected because the State Attorney's Office has acquired as yet unconfirmed reports that the majority of Dinamo's players that are currently playing abroad have a secret contract with him according to which they must pay him a percentage of each salary they earn while playing abroad. If this is proven, then he could face charges for breaching Article 175 of the Criminal Code on Human Trafficking and Slavery.
In that article it states, "Any person, who in contravention to international law, subjects another to slavery or any similar relationship, or retains them in that manner, buys, sells, transfers to another person or mediates in their sale, sells or exchanges such persons or incites others to sell their freedom or the freedom of someone they are caring for, will be sentenced to a term of from one to ten years imprisonment."

DUO UNDER UEFA'S MICROSCOPE Dinamo executive deputy president Zdravko Mamic with Zorislav Srebric, who is suspected of providing the sports betting mafia with advance information as to who would be refereeing games in the Croatian Football League's first and second divisions Under UEFA's special attention is the general secretary of the Croatia Football Federation, Zorislav Srebric. The UEFA suspects him of providing the sports betting mafia with advance information as to who will be refereeing matches in the first and second Croatian leagues. If this is correct, it then follows that Srebric illegally involved himself in the process of delegating referees for matches in Croatian football's first and second leagues. After this the sports betting mafia would then contact the referee in question in an attempt to bribe him to influence the end result of the game. UEFA has in its possession testimony from some members of the sports betting mafia, who very precisely describe how this was done in Croatia. These materials are apparently also now in the possession of the Croatian police, along with the names of the referees with whom the sports betting mafia had contacted.

UEFA investigators revealed to Nacional which games played in the first division of Croatian football they suspect were fixed. Among them is Osijek's 3:1 win over Medimurje in the CFL's fifth round of play on 22 August 2009. The other match under investigation is Hajduk of Split's 6:0 win over Croatia Sesvete, played on 21 November 2009. What is most interesting is that it has been uncovered that unusually large bets were placed on some games in the Croatian Football League's second division. These cases are under investigation, and it seems that in these cases something went wrong because large sums of money were lost at the betting pools. This raises suspicion that these games were supposed to have been fixed, but that due to extraneous circumstances the end result was beyond their control. It is now being analyzed who paid in these large sums of money and why, on these seemingly unimportant games.

Nacional has discovered from high ranking judicial officials that the processing of these cases will be quite demanding. The source stated that first and foremost all of the submitted materials must be properly prepared as evidence that will be of use during legal proceedings.

The same source adds that some of the materials are of very high quality, but that given the differences between the judicial practice in various countries of the EU and in Croatia, it is difficult at this time to say precisely which cases will get a fitting legal epilogue, meaning a conviction. When judicial sources in Croatia were first presented with the submitted information it became clear to them why, in the wake of the uncovering of the sports betting affair in Germany, the Croatia football milieu was suddenly silent.

A high-ranking legal source in Croatia confirmed for Nacional that representatives of the State Attorney's Office are planning a trip to Bochum, to the very core of the German investigation into this case. There will still be some time to wait before we have a legal epilogue of this drama in Croatia, and in the meantime it appears that the football milieu will continue its policy of denial or silence.