Top-tier Swedish football match postponed after match-fixing bid

A top-flight football match in Sweden was postponed on Thursday after a player from one of the teams was approached to deliberately underperform.

The Swedish Football Association said a player from AIK was promised "a large sum of money" if he performed "badly" in the match against IFK Gothenburg.

The Swedish FA will hold a news conference at 10.15 am (GMT) to apprise about the investigation launched by the police.

A statement released by the FA last night said: "With veiled threats, the fixer demanded that the player perform badly during the match against IFK Gothenburg."

AIK, who are eighth in the 16-team league, and Gothenburg (13th in the standings) were due to faceoff at the latter's Gamla Ullevi stadium last evening before the authorities decided to postpone it.

The date of the fixture is yet to be decided.

"The starting point for all of our games is that they're safe and conducted in a sporting manner," Hakan Sjostrand, secretary general of the federation, said in the statement released by the football body. 

"Based on the information we've received, we cannot guarantee that the IFK Gothenburg and AIK game is a safe match."

Swedish football has been plagued by the scourge of match-fixing in the past.

The second tier of Swedish football has been particularly hit hard by allegations of match fixing, though the investigators are yet to find any conclusive evidence.

Last year, a Swedish court had condemned two third-tier footballers to imprisonment for tanking matches.

(WION with inputs from AFP)