Blatter, Swiss FA slam match-fixing acquittals

LAUSANNE, Switzerland: FIFA President Sepp Blatter says the “irritating” acquittal of three football players in Switzerland in a match-fixing case was an “own goal by Swiss justice.”
Switzerland’s Football Association says the country “desperately needs” to update its criminal code after the players were cleared by a federal court on Tuesday.
The Swiss League players were prosecuted for swindling linked to betting on second-tier matches played in 2009 following an international investigation led from Bochum, Germany.
Goalkeeper Darko Damjanovic, who allegedly recruited players for a Croatian crime syndicate, was suspended indefinitely by the Swiss FA in 2010.
However, a judge acquitted Damjanovic and two others, saying there was no obvious victim of bets placed online.
The Swiss FA called yesterday for a national law against sporting fraud to be passed.