BERLIN: The German weekly magazine Der Spiegel reports in tomorrow's edition that the 2006 World Cup knock-out stage match between Brazil and Ghana was influenced by an Asian betting syndicate.

The magazine reports large sums of money had been bet on Brazil winning by at least two goals and a former Ghana international acted as an intermediary.

Ghana lost the last 16 round match 3-0 in Dortmund on June 27, 2006 which put Brazil into the quarter-finals where they lost to France.

The information in Der Spiegel comes from Canadian investigative journalist Declan Hill, whose book about betting on sport around the world will be published in German next week.

Hill also claims two Bundesliga matches of the 2004-05 season were also the subject of a betting scam organised by Malaysian William Lim Bee Wah who was sentenced to two years and five months by a Frankfurt court.
German football endured the most serious crisis in its history in 2004 when referee Robert Hoyzer admitted having received E70,000 (RM348,000) to influence the results of 23 matches, mainly second and third division games, between April 10 and Dec 3, 2004. -- AFP