One in three championship players in handball have played matches they suspect were rigged: "Frightening"

In January, Denmark's TV2 revealed that 26 international matches between September 2016 and November 2017 had been identified as suspected fixes. Among other things, international matches and Champions League matches.

Now, a survey, which SVT made with NRK and DR, shows that players at the highest level suspected that they played match-fixing.

In the survey, which was sent to all players who have represented Sweden, Norway and Denmark in championships over the past five seasons, a third of the respondents state that they played a match that they later suspected was rigged.

Nathalie Hagman is surprised that there are so many:

"Yes, I think you're a bit naïve. You think that in handball there is not so much of that.

"It's only now, it feels like, that they've started to raise these things and people are reporting," says Jamina Roberts.

EHF: No evidence

91 percent of those who suspected fixing matches answered that the suspicions – at least partly – relate to European Cup games.

But Michael Wiederer, president of the European Handball Federation, believes that the EHF is doing what it can.

"First of all, I would like to emphasize that there is currently no clear evidence of match-fixing. And I think we've been working with the authorities for years. As a sports organisation, it is impossible for us to see what is going on in the betting market.

The interview with Wiederer was conducted before the survey was completed. When we contact EHF's press officer Thomas Schöneich and present the results, he replies by email:

"The players' suspicions, as you mention, are not reflected by the numbers that we have," he writes, referring to statistics they received from the company Sportradar, which monitors the betting market and alerts at signs of match-fixing. However, the EHF does not want to share its own figures.

According to the EHF, Sportradar flagged about 1,200 matches in various sports as "suspicious" in 2022. Fewer than ten of them were related to handball. Sportradar bases its suspicions on odds movements and betting.

SPORT-DOK: Watch "The threat to handball" in SVT Play