AFC chief calls 'fixing' a soccer pandemic

The "cancer" of soccer match-fixing is a pandemic that is too big for one organization to tackle, AFC acting president Zhang Jilong warned as the regional body and Interpol kicked off a two-day seminar on the issue on Wednesday.

World soccer was rocked this month when European police said a Singapore-based syndicate had directed match-fixing for at least 380 soccer games in Europe alone, with documented profits of eight million euros ($11 million) believed to be just the tip of the iceberg.

While the news shocked many in Europe, the announcements were met with little surprise in Asia, which has long struggled to tackle the problem with high-profile cases in South Korea, China and Malaysia in recent years.