English soccer is '100 percent clean' with no corrupt referees, Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said on Friday as he expressed his surprise at the extent of the global match-fixing scandal that cast a shadow over the game.
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European police said on Monday that about 680 suspicious matches, including qualifiers for the World Cup and European championship and the Champions League, had been identified in a match-fixing inquiry.
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Wenger said he doubted the problem extended to sport in Engand.
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'' I personally feel English football is clean of cheating 100 percent '', the Frenchman told reporters in his pre-match briefing on the eve of Arsenal's visit to Sunderland in the Premier League on Saturday. '' I don't think referees are corrupt ''.
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'' It's time that we tackle this problem in a very serious way and that people who cheat are punished in a very severe way as well ''.