updated 6:05 a.m. ET Feb. 5, 2013

MADRID (Reuters) - Match-fixing and illegal betting exist in Spanish soccer and some authorities have yet to recognize the problem, a vice president of the country's professional league (LFP) said on Tuesday.

"Here the illness is not admitted to so you cannot cure the patient," the LFP's Javier Tebas was quoted as saying in Marca sports daily.

"There are institutions which are not aware of what goes on," he said.

"There is match fixing and illegal betting. In a small percentage but there is also corruption in Spain."

An inquiry by European police forces, the European anti-crime agency Europol, and national prosecutors has uncovered about 680 suspicious matches allegedly fixed as part of a global betting scam run from Singapore.

They included qualifying games for the World Cup, the European Championship and the Champions League.

The matches in question, some of which have already been subject to successful criminal prosecutions, took place between 2008 and 2011, investigators said.

About 380 were played in Europe, and a further 300 were identified in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

Tebas told Spanish radio last month the LFP was aware that some matches in Spain were being fixed.

"We are trying to unmask the cheats, because there are cheats in Spanish football," he said.

(Reporting by Iain Rogers, editing by Amlan Chakraborty)

More news

Francisco Leong / AFP - Getty Images

Deserving of a bump?

PST: Should the winners of the Europa League be awarded a spot in the following season’s Champions League? That is the question that UEFA, Europe’s soccer governing body, will likely answer in the affirmative on Friday.

PST: Higuain close to Juventus move

Headlines

• Label

PST: Higuain close to Juventus move

Holden thrilled at U.S. return after injury woes

UEFA OKs minimum 10-match ban for racist abuse

PST: The five worst EPL signings of the year

PST: Yankees, Man. City to own NY-based MLS club

PST: Why MLS wanted New York as market

NYCFC may play at Yankee Stadium  |  Options

Dortmund's Götze to miss UCL final vs. Bayern

Pulis out at Stoke  |  Affect on Americans?

PST: Mourinho officially leaving Real Madrid