Erik ‘Panzer’ Hagen, the former national Norwegian football star, met with European sports officials in Switzerland on Tuesday after he made explosive match fixing claims last week. Hagen and fellow Norwegian Jørgen Jalland claimed bribery was rife when they played in Russia’s top league between 2005 and 2008.
Hagen fronted a closed UEFA hearing in Geneva to testify on the claims, reported Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK). Hagen told newspaper VG last week that against his will, he personally paid a referee 3,000 dollars to fix the outcome of a UEFA cup match when he played for Zenit St Petersburg.
“Erik Hagen explained himself today to UEFA,” said Svein Graff, communications director at the Norwegian Football Association (Norges Fotballforbund, NFF). “Neither he nor NFF has the opportunity to comment on the content of the conversation as this is confidential under UEFA’s rules.”
Both Graff and a NFF lawyer assisted Hagen at the UEFA meeting. NRK reported Hagen was prepared to give as much information as he could over the case so it could be thoroughly investigated.
newsinenglish.no staff
