BRATISLAVA, Dec 30: Former Slovak football star Martin Karnas said match fixing existed at the highest levels of the national game in a report published by the SME newspaper on Saturday.

The 31 year old former Slovak league championship winner, who played for Slovan Bratislava, Artmedia Bratislava and Trnava, said he was once approached by his captain before a game and informed that it had been decided they would lose. On another occasion team players were awarded a bonus after losing a game.

Half a dozen similar games were fixed in advance but most frequently referees were bribed, Karnas said. The May assault by two men on Slovak international referee Igor Sramka was probably connected to corruption, he added.—AFP