Polish police said Sunday they have arrested a first-division soccer referee who allegedly took a $31,000 US bribe to help fix two matches.
The referee was arrested Friday near Kielce, in central Poland, said Ryszard Zaremba, a spokesman for police in the southern city of Wroclaw.
Police moved in after the man took and hid the money, Zaremba said. He did not say who gave the referee the money and he refused to identify the man.
A suspected accomplice of the referee was arrested at a different location, Zaremba said. He did not elaborate.
"The men were to influence referees in Polish championship matches to make a selected team win," Zaremba said. He did not specify which matches were involved.
Michal Listkiewicz, the chairman of Poland's soccer association, said the arrest came as a shock to him.
"I am sorry that . . . among the 10,000 referees, there was a black sheep," Listkiewicz told Poland's PAP news agency.
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