Czech police charge 20 in soccer corruption probe

PRAGUE (Reuters) - The Czech police raided the country's football association headquarters on Friday, charging 20 people with match fixing and corruption, prosecutors and association officials said.

"The police have launched criminal proceedings against 20 people today... regarding an organised crime group active in corruption to fix results of football matches," High State Prosecutor Lenka Bradacova told Reuters, confirming earlier reports by local media.

Czech Football Association spokesman Michael Jurman confirmed the raid.

"We can confirm that since the morning, the police have acted, including a search at the association headquarters," Jurman said. "We are providing the police with maximum cooperation," he added.

News website Denik N reported that deputy chief of the Czech Football Association Roman Berbr was among those charged but state prosecutor Bradacova declined to say whether the long-time official had been charged or detained.

Jurman also declined to comment on the report and Berbr could not be immediately reached for comment.

The case centers on alleged match fixing in the second and third tiers of Czech football and officials are also investigating a number of referees, Seznam Zpravy news website reported. (This story fixes typo in website name in last paragraph)

(Reporting by Robert Muller; Editing by Michael Kahn and Tomasz Janowski)