The manipulation of results is a real risk for the 2018 World Cup in Russia. This is the opinion of experts consulted by Globoesporte.com. To ensure the integrity of the mega-event and prevent this type of crime, FIFA will implement a series of preventive measures in the coming weeks and during the competition.
“Protecting competitions from the threat of manipulation of results is crucial for FIFA. To ensure that the integrity of the 2018 World Cup will not be compromised in any way, FIFA, in collaboration with its partners, has implemented a series of specific measures to proactively predict, detect and respond to any suspicious activity and / or any attempt to manipulate a World Cup game,” confirmed the entity through a spokesman.
The alert is already connected with the preparatory friendly matches before the World Cup. Partly regulated, the organization of these games is the responsibility of the federations. Until the opening of the World Cup there will be training with the 32 teams. The workshops will be more focused on players and referees, but will also serve coaches and managers.
A particular point will be the simultaneous analysis of online betting markets and field actions during each of the 64 World Cup matches. For this service FIFA has the partnership of Sportradar, a sports betting market specialized firm present in more than 30 countries that also serves the NBA and the NFL.
Because it is a branch of the crime industry, it is difficult to specify how much money the manipulation of results moves in the world. The volume of sports betting raises around € 1.4 trillion per year. Corruption of football matches is estimated to generate € 3.2 billion a year. As a comparison: FIFA had a gross revenue of approximately € 3.5 billion in the last World Cup, in 2014.
Taking into account this percentage of fraud, the monitoring and the global audience of more than 3 billion people, the possibility of manipulation of a match of the next World Cup is considered small. But it exists. Experts say the size of the numbers and the number of transactions makes it difficult to detect corruption, which can be hidden in multiple bets. In addition, once the selections are eliminated but have top lay one more game, they become more vulnerable to the approach of organized crime.
"It can not be said that a World Cup game will never be manipulated. The "in-play" market (bets during a match) offers an opportunity. Players can be influenced to take a corner or receive a card (from referee) in return for cash, as these actions may not directly affect the outcome of the game,” commented Andy Brown of the Sports Integrity Initiative, an international vehicle specializing in matters affecting integrity of the sport.
The issue will be further contested in 2018 because the World Cup will be in Russia, a country with a history of suspected corruption in local competitions. At least US$ 1 billion is injected annually by overseas companies in the illegal online gambling industry. The Russian authorities estimate that gambling on the Internet will drive US$ 7.8 billion a year in the illegal market. In an attempt to reduce the problem, Russia launched in 2016 the "Tsupis", a government-authorized betting platform. Later that year, Europol dismantled a transnational gang made up of members of the Russian mafia, who laundered money by taking on football clubs in financial crisis in Portugal. They did this to launder money by manipulating results.
“There will be an increase in both legal and illegal bets during the World Cup, as was already evident in other major competitions. Bettors can travel to Russia in an attempt to manipulate gambling and take advantage of betting, but Russian officials and international security agencies will have an intense security and intelligence scheme to ensure the integrity of the World Cup," said Fred Lord, director of Anti-Corruption and Transparency Area of the International Center for Safety in Sport (ICSS).
FIFA overturned a fraudulent match of the African Qualifiers for the 2018 World Cup between South Africa and Senegal. In that match, which took place in November 2016, Ghanaian referee Joseph Lamptey scored a penalty in a move in which the ball clearly did not take the player's hand, which influenced the final score. FIFA decided to ban the football referee for ever and re-schedule the game. According to a report sent by Sportradar to FIFA, the evidence indicated that bettors knew that at least three goals would occur in that game (final score was 2 to 1).
In 2014, FIFA's then Chief of Security, Ralf Mutschke, denounced the attempted harassment of referees and players by criminals trying to buy and manipulate results at the World Cup in Brazil. Mutschke left office at the end of 2016.
The identification of cases of manipulation occurs in the analysis of the volume of bets, along with the observation of something suspicious in the field, such as marking a nonexistent penalty, excessive expulsions, etc. This type of crime is mainly linked to the online gambling world. Players, referees, coaches, managers, clubs, teams and confederations are potential targets. The reasons may be sporting or economic.
Source: GMB / O Globo
