Laudrup demands no leniency on match-fixing.
Swansea City manager Michael Laudrup wants life bans for anyone found guilty of match-fixing.
The Dane was commenting on a Europol investigation which claims the practice is widespread, with 680 games across the world fixed, including one Champions League match in England – believed to be Liverpool’s 1-0 win over Debrecen in 2009.
“If someone gets caught being paid to lose a game, they should be banned for life,” Laudrup is quoted as saying by the BBC.
“This sport is about winning, if you receive money to lose a game you should be banned.”
Europol began the investigation 18 months ago and suspect 425 officials, players and criminals of involvement in match-fixing.
Laudrup created a stir in September when he claimed it was acceptable for teams to accept payment from other teams to win games but the former Barcelona and Denmark star believes deliberately throwing matches is a different matter.
“If you are a player or a manager, if you get paid to lose a game you should be banned forever,” he said.
“Then players would think about the risk of getting caught, it’s quite a risk to take if you are banned for life – not like cycling where you may take something but get banned for a year or two, it should be for life.”
Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger earlier insisted that England was “100 per cent” clean from match-fixing.
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