It’s out in a press release where President Kåre Geir Lio spoke.

– For sport, it’s always a shame when claims like that come up. Match fixing is one of the biggest threats to sport. We will ask the EHF (European Handball Federation) for more information on this matter. At the same time, we have to deal with what the EHF said very clearly, and that is that no evidence of match fixing or manipulation was found in the match,

National team manager Jonas Wille commented on the matter during Monday’s press conference in Poland.

– We have to deal with what they say, and those who investigate can take the job. It’s a bit unfair to overthink this when we don’t have any background to think about anything. We have to trust them as investigators. We will not investigate or judge. Not much to say about it except that we expect it to be taken very seriously and thoroughly investigated.

Energy

Wille did not feel that the accusations were draining his own troops.

– No, I definitely don’t feel that way. There’s been quite a bit of talk about that, and it lines up with the things we’re doing. I think as a group we are good at doing something with what we can do, said Wille when asked by NTB.

On Sunday, Danish TV 2 reported that handball was being investigated for possible match-fixing. Referees were singled out for influencing the outcome of 26 games in 2016 and 2017. High-profile firm Sportradar is behind the analysis and wrote in a report that “there were clear signs of match-fixing”.

Many of these matches are played under the auspices of the European Handball Federation (EHF), including in the Champions League.

Refuse

Two of the eight designated pairs participate in the WC. We are talking about judges from Croatia and North Macedonia.

– They (the judges, ed.) need not be suspected, until proven guilty, wrote IHF to Danish TV 2, Sunday.

The judges themselves have dismissed all charges and remain ignorant of the accusations.

Alert

Lio also conveyed this in his press release. – Of course the Norwegian Handball Association is unlikely to have an opinion on specific allegations until we know more. For us, it is important to take this opportunity to remind that anyone who has suspicions or concrete information about match-fixing or sees anything suspicious that suggests manipulation of our sport, to report it immediately. There’s nothing to suggest that match-fixing is a pervasive problem in our handball world, but we should always be on our toes.

One of two pairs of suspected referees has been appointed to officiate tonight’s game between Portugal and Hungary.