Former footballers Dominque Taboga, Sanel Kuljic and "several other people" have been charged in connection with the Austrian match-fixing scandal which came to light last year, state prosecutors said on Monday. The prosecutors in Graz said in a statement that they would not give any further details for the time being while investigations continued.
Taboga was released by top flight club Groedig in November and given a life ban by the Austrian Football Federation in February over the allegations. Kuljic is a former Austria international forward who retired in 2012. In November, criminal investigators said that up to 17 first and second division matches could have been manipulated in the last seven years.
The matches under suspicion included nine in the Bundesliga, the top flight of Austrian football, of which three were played this season and involved Groedig. These included Groedig's 3-0 defeat by local rivals Salzburg in October, their 1-1 draw at home to Wolfsberger and their 2-2 draw against Rapid Vienna, both in November. The remaining eight games were all in the Erste Liga, the second tier of Austrian football. Nine of the 17 matches involved former Bundesliga club Kapfenberger, relegated at the end of the 2011-12 season.
Taboga left Groedig by mutual consent on November 14 after the club said he had admitted trying to persuade four team mates to manipulate matches. The club said the other players declined to get involved. Kuljic played for Austria 20 times between 2005 and 2007 but failed to make the cut for the Euro 2008 squad. He was joint topscorer in the Austrian Bundesliga in 2005/06 for SV Ried with 15 goals.
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