Match-fixing has returned to haunt the game in the past fortnight, with Europol, the European police agency, revealing evidence of the activity in top international games. Attempts to fix about 380 professional matches were identified, involving up to 425 match and club officials and players and criminals from more than 15 countries. These included qualification matches for the World Cup and the Champions League. Of these, 19 were fixed in Belgium.

Match-fixing has long haunted the local game. The worst scandal of all occurred in 1982 when Standard Liège manager Raymond Goethals, Belgium captain Eric Gerets and Standard president Roger Petit bribed Waterschei to lose the last game of the season to Standard, who thus won the championship.

Europol says Belgium’s 19 match fixes were masterminded by the Asian mafia, who managed to corrupt some 11 Belgians in the efforts. It could well be the same people behind the 2006 betting scandal that shocked the game: Players and management of First Division sides Lierse and La Louvière and were revealed to be complicit in fixing results on behalf of a Shanghai-based betting syndicate.

The then-Lierse coach, Paul Put, has since resurfaced to claim that match-fixing is still widespread. “Match-fixing has always existed in football,” says Put, who also managed Flemish clubs Geel and Lokeren and is currently coaching Burkina Faso. “If you look at cycling, at Lance Armstrong, it’s always him who is pointed at, but everybody was taking drugs. It’s unfortunate, but I think in every sport you have to face those things. That is reality.”

Merksem-born Put was one of the very few coaches to have been banned for fixing games, serving a three-year ban in Belgium that expired in 2011 after being found guilty of fixing two matches while at Lierse. He still denies involvement and says he was acting under duress after being threatened by those leading the scam. “I was threatened by the mafia,” he said. “My child was not safe.” But his success since returning to football – guiding Burkina Faso to their first Africa Cup of Nations final last month – suggests he may earn some redemption.

As for the local game, one can only hope that Put is wrong and that it can change. But for that, everyone needs to be realistic about the problem, and hard-headed in tackling it.