Warning: Goalkeepers extra exposed to match-fixing attempts

It is not uncommon for goalkeepers to end up in the center of match-fixing stories.

Swedish football's most notable attempt at match-fixing took place in 2018, when AIK's goalkeeper Kenny Stamatopoulos is said to have been offered SEK 2 million to manipulate the match against IFK Gothenburg - something he did not accept.

Instead, he alerted the club - and those who offered him the bribe were later convicted of the bribery attempt.

"A suitable player"

And in the case of Kvarnby, it was also a goalkeeper who was the main character.

And this is how it often looks in match-fixing cases.

- It is the case that they are a suitable player to tie to because you can influence the result quite easily, by either letting in balls, or influencing so that players have opportunities to score goals.

And we also know that you can tip the ball to corners, and influence the number of corners in a match, says police inspector Mathias Milasjö, who was involved in investigating the Kvarnby case, to SVT Sport.

"Are overrepresented"

Johan Claesson, who is responsible for the work against match-fixing at the Swedish Football Association, confirms the police's picture.

- Internationally, a large study has been done, and it has been shown that goalkeepers and midfielders are overrepresented.

There are cases with other people as well, but a goalkeeper or fullback alone can affect more than an outside forward or midfielder, he says, and explains that they lift just this when they meet different teams:

- Yes, we usually say just that: That goalkeepers have to be a little extra careful, because they can be a little more at risk of being contacted by individuals who want to manipulate matches.