The 26 matches were played between September 2016 and November 2017, and apply to international matches as well as Champions League matches.

This is written by Danish TV2, which gained access to the classified report, in which a total of eight different pairs of judges figure.

The European Handball Federation (EHF) received the report already in 2018, but despite that, it is therefore several of the referees singled out in the report who are now judging the WC in Sweden and Poland.

Including a judge, who according to the report has contact with criminal organizations and known match-fixers.

"Sportradar has found that referee XX has many connections with organized criminal groups," the report states.

"A criminal act"

However, the referee in question and his referee colleague refused to answer TV2's questions when they met him after a match during the World Cup, and another pair of referees they spoke to claim they are not aware of the report - while denying any involvement in match-fixing.

EHF writes in an email to TV2 that they see match-fixing as a criminal act, and have therefore sent further information about the report to the relevant authorities.

"The EHF only has the opportunity to analyze the matches and the actions of the people in question from a sporting point of view, and can therefore only act on the investigations of the authorities," writes their communications manager Thomas Schöneich.

The EHF also announces that they themselves have analyzed the suspicious matches mentioned in the report, and that they have found no reason to punish any of the pairs of referees in question.

Sportradar is a Swiss company that monitors games across Europe.

They also collaborate with UEFA and the Swedish Football Association, among others.