Croatian prosecutors and police on Tuesday detained 22 people for questioning in connection with First Football Division match fixing and betting fraud.
The police said in a statement that they launched the investigation, codenamed Offside, in late 2009 after receiving information from German police about match fixing and related betting scams in Croatia.
"At this stage, the criminal investigation covers 22 persons - 20 Croatian and two Slovenian citizens, and many people will be interviewed," the statement said, without revealing details.
Sources close to the investigation said that among those detained were First Division players and officials.
The statement said that the Croatian police were cooperating with their colleagues in Germany and other European countries in investigating similar cases abroad.
A broad international investigation was launched late last year after German police arrested 15 people, including the Croatian-born brothers Ante and Milan Sapin, of Berlin, who had been convicted for match fixing in Germany in 2005.
The European football governing body UEFA said at the time that most of the 200 suspicious matches concerned nine European football leagues, and that 14 Croatian First Division matches were suspicious.
