UEFA bans Ukrainian football referee for life for match-rigging

Mar 19, 2010, 12:04 GMT

Kiev - European football's ruling body UEFA on Friday banned a Ukrainian referee for life, in the second sacking stemming from a massive match-fixing scandal.

Oleh Orekhov, one of the former Soviet republic's most experienced football officials, had been on a forced leave of absence since mid- February.

A UEFA disciplanary committee concluded Orekhov had violated the organization's principles of 'loyalty and integrity' while judging European matches during 2009, according to a UEFA web site statement.

Evidence of possible match-rigging by footballers and referees, among them Orekhov, in Champions League and Europa League play were first publicised in November, as a result of an investigation into possible match-fixing by police in the German city of Bochum.

The UEFA used data gathered by Bochum police in its review of Orekhov's performance. The Friday statement did not specify matches whose result Orekhov may have helped influence.

Orekhov has three days to appeal the UEFA decision, according to the statement. He began working as a football referee in Ukrainian domestic leagues in 1994, and was approved in 2003 by the world football association FIFA as qualified to referee international matches.

The UEFA disciplinary committee in late February sacked Bosnian referee Novo Panic, based on a review of police-supplied evidence.

Croat referee Tomislav Setka, is suspended from participation in UEFA-sanctioned events until July, as result of the corruption investigation.

German police have investigated more than 200 matches potentially involved in the betting scandal, described in November by UEFA spokesman representative Peter Limacher as 'undoubtedly the biggest match-fixing scandal that European football has ever seen.'