It looks like a mismatch. On one side are the authorities who run the world's favourite game, only occasionally aided by governments and the police. On the other, determined professional gangsters, intent on fixing matches and laundering money. Their antics-such as the arrangement, in 2010, of a fake game between Bahrain and a bogus Togolese team-can seem ingenious, even amusing. But their repertoire includes violence and blackmail as well as sophisticated betting software. Several national leagues, notably China's, have been severely discredited by their rackets.
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