– It seemed impossible for us to win that match, remembers Ola Månsson. He is the head coach of the Swedish handball club H65 Höör and talks about an away match in Europe a couple of years ago. Höör were big favourites, but lost the match. Surprises in handball happen at regular intervals, but head coach Månsson believes there were other forces at work. – I had no doubt what result the judges wanted, he says today. Lack of trust from the players Yesterday, news, DR and SVT presented a survey which shows that one in three Scandinavian national handball players answer that they have played a match they suspect was fixed. The Höör battle is one of these battles. But very few believe that the international confederations will be able to clean things up. In the survey carried out by the three media houses, 72 out of 102 top players from Scandinavia answer that they have little or no confidence that the European Handball Federation (EHF) and the International Handball Federation (IHF) handle match-fixing in a good way. REQUIRES ACTION: National team captain Stine Bredal Oftedal. Photo: Beate Oma Dahle / NTB National team captain of the women’s national team, Stine Bredal Oftedal, believes that the distrust of the players must be taken seriously by the EHF and IHF. – I think it is the perfect pressure on them, that they are now taking it terribly seriously and doing something about it. It can’t be a good thing for them to hear that so many people distrust one there. If I were them, I would have seen even more work to solve it and have a sport without match-fixing, says Oftedal. The EHF says they have zero tolerance when it comes to match-fixing. – We do everything to protect the reputation of handball as a clean and fair sport, writes EHF’s head of communications, Thomas Schöneich, in an e-mail. PRESS RESPONSIBILITY: Thomas Schöneich in the European Handball Federation (EHF) Photo: Beate Oma Dahle / NTB He points out that since 2018 the federation has had a notification channel where players, coaches and clubs can confidentially report, for example, match-fixing. Höör did that three days after the match they suspected was fixed. But they did not experience being taken seriously. news, DR and SVT’s investigation into match-fixing The investigation has been sent to players who have been selected for a championship for Denmark, Norway or Sweden in the last five years. 103 players have responded. The response rate was 49. Among the respondents, 58 were women and 45 were men. 26 Danish, 33 Swedish and 44 Norwegian players have responded. The survey was anonymous and was sent out via SMS via the survey tool Questback in the period 3 October to 27 October 2023. Source: news Research Center – A disaster The first match was played away from home a few years ago. – Early on in the game, we understand that “something is not right here”. During the match, we understand that it will be difficult to win. It felt strange, says trainer Ola Månsson two years later. COACH: Ola Månsson is still the coach for H65 Höör. Photo: Lars Dareberg / SVT In the report, they emphasize that they have no suspicions against the home team. The feeling was that the judges were against them. – The referees were a disaster and did everything they could for the home team to win. We think it is 100 percent certain that the match was fixed. There is no other explanation, writes Höör in the report that was sent to EHF. When the Swedish Handball Channel asked an anonymous former top referee to watch the match, the person concerned concluded that there were at least 20 suspect refereeing decisions that went in favor of the home team. After the loss, there was excitement in the dressing room. Amelia Lundbäck, now in Romanian Baia Mare, says: – The feeling was very strange. You felt taken advantage of. STATED: Amelia Lundbäck played the match for Höör. In retrospect, she has thought a lot about the match and how difficult it was for the players to handle then and there. Photo: Henrik Myhr Nielsen / news Handball Channel contacted the referees in the case at the time, without receiving a reply. news, SVT and DR have also tried to get in touch with the referees, both through several contacts in their own handball associations, but we have also tried to get the referees to contact them directly. We have not been successful in getting an answer. End the case after a short time When Höör’s complaint was sent, they received confirmation that it had been received and were assured that EHF would look into the case. Then it was quiet. It was only when SVT got in touch earlier this year to ask about the status that a club manager logged into the EHF’s notification system again. There he found an unread message. The case was concluded a few weeks after the notice came in, without the EHF having spoken to a single player, coach or team manager in the Swedish club, they explain in Höör. – We want to contribute to handball becoming as clean a sport as possible, but we cannot handle such a case ourselves. It seems regrettable, says Ola Månsson. Read the full response from EHF to Höör here: ANSWER: In the message from EHF it was written that there was not enough evidence to proceed. The handling is criticized in sharp terms by former Höör player Amelia Lundbäck, who played the match for Höör. – It is a disaster. When you report something, you hope that it will be taken seriously, she says. Höör won the return match and thus progressed in the tournament. Expect clean-up news, SVT and DR have asked the EHF specifically about the report from the Swedish club. The association replies that they have been in contact with the man in Höör who wrote the message, where those concerned were informed about the process. The club does not see it that way. They feel they never received any information before the case was suddenly closed. EHF states that the case was handled according to EHF’s procedures. Relevant information was also handed over to the Austrian police, they write in an email. – We have developed various procedures to carefully review information about match-fixing or influencing matches, both internally and externally. These procedures underline our zero tolerance when it comes to such debts, writes EHF in the e-mail. The IHF believes that the distrust of the players is unfounded and highlights, among other things, a case from September, where the EHF suspended a former head referee as a consequence of a documentary from Danish TV 2 that dealt with match-fixing. – The IHF is of the opinion that players, coaches, staff and fans should have no reason to doubt the integrity of the sport, which the IHF clearly strives to protect with measures to ensure fair play and prevent the manipulation of matches, the IHF writes in an email. WANTS ACTION: Harald Reinkind hopes that the EHF cleans up. Photo: Nikola Krstic / NTB National team player Harald Reinkind hopes the EHF takes both match-fixing issues and the lack of trust from players seriously. – We must have confidence in the system, and they must crack down extremely hard on such cases if there is something there. Because it is certainly not good for our sport, and it is not good for those watching. It takes away some of the credibility we have in handball today, says Harald Reinkind.
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Notice of match-fixing – calls the answer a disaster – news Sport – Sports news, results and broadcast schedule
