January 1, 2019, a new gaming legislation was introduced in Sweden.

Now it will for the first time be tried in the district court.

Today, chamber prosecutor Staffan Edlund has prosecuted four people, including a former U21 national team player and two people with merits from the Swedish national futsal team.

This was a message that the Swedish Football Association's general secretary Håkan Sjöstrand received with mixed feelings.

- First of all, it is serious and regrettable that this situation has occurred at all.

We put a lot of effort and resources into counteracting match-fixing, he says to SVT Sport, and adds:

- But we have assisted the police with investigative material, and that an indictment is brought is very important and a signal also that if something happens, we will act.

"Pushed hard"

The indictment concerns, among other things, a yellow card that one of the players must have taken on purpose, and Sjöstrand believes this is proof that the association has done the right thing in demanding stricter legislation, where gambling on offenses is now prohibited.

- We have pushed hard for it not to be allowed, but we want even tougher legislation.

We see that it is still possible to play on odd events such as throw-ins and corners, he says, and develops:

- This case shows the importance of tightening the offer on football.

And it also shows that it was positive that Minister of Social Insurance Ardalan Shekarabi recently appointed an investigator to look at these issues.

It is a couple of the players who are national team merits.

Are they available for national team games now pending prosecution?

- This is very serious information.

They are not eligible for national team games at the moment.

We already decided when two of these were arrested last winter that they would not be available, and that applies to all of these now while waiting for them.

"Incredibly serious issue"

Håkan Sjöstrand wants to emphasize one thing a little extra:

- We will always turn all the stones and not sweep anything under the carpet.

This is an incredibly serious issue.

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SVT Sports' survey shows that there is a lot of match-fixing in Swedish football.

Photo: SVT / TT