So You Want to Fix a Soccer Match

By Ira Boudway

Illustrations by Félix Decombat

Last year, bookmakers took bets on about 75,000 soccer matches in more than 700 leagues and federations around the world, according to the betting data company Sportradar AG. For a match-fixer, that’s 75,000 chances to profit. In theory, it’s easy: All you have to do is arrange an outcome ahead of time and then bet on it. In practice, it’s a nonstop hunt for new ways to manipulate games and stay ahead of bookmakers and police. “You can’t just sit on your ass and wait for the apple to drop from the tree,” writes Wilson Raj Perumal in his memoir, Kelong Kings: Confessions of the World’s Most Prolific Match-Fixer. “You have to dig deeper and deeper to achieve results.” So, you in? 

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