A match-fixing ring with more than 200 suspected members fixed or tried to fix around 200 matches across Europe, including three in the Champions League, in what UEFA is calling the biggest betting scandal in Europe.

In an operation launched months ago, some 300 German police officers assisted by more police forces in the other countries cracked down on the ring on Thursday. The investigation only included matches played in 2009.

“We at (European soccer’s governing body) UEFA are stunned by the magnitude of this,” UEFA representative Peter Limacher told reporters at a Bochum police news conference on Friday. “This is undoubtedly the biggest match-fixing scandal that European football has ever seen. Now we must do everything to make sure those referees, players and officials are taken to justice.” The prosecutor’s office in Bochum is Germany’s leading authority on fighting corruption and fraud.

Police in Germany, Britain, Austria and Switzerland staged simultaneous raids, arresting 15 people in Germany and two in Switzerland, officials in Bochum said. Officers also seized one million Euros ($1.49 m) in cash or goods as part of an investigation into the suspected manipulation of games across nine European leagues. In all, some 50 properties were searched in the four countries.

Among the games believed to have been manipulated are three Champions League matches and 12 Europa League games, all this year. UEFA said all were early qualifying round games. A qualifying match for the Under-21 European Championship is also under suspicion. According to German authorities, 32 games are under suspicion in Germany, including four in the second division. The others were lower-tier matches. In Belgium, 17 second-division games are under suspicion; in Switzerland, 22 second-division games; in Croatia, 14 first-division games; in Slovenia, seven first-division games; in Turkey, 29 first-division games; in Hungary, 13 first-division games; in Bosnia, eight first-division games, and in Austria, 11 first and second-division games.

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