Lawyer Udo Seckelmann, a specialist in international sports law, emphasizes that match-fixing is a complex problem and difficult to tackle for several reasons: transnationality and complexity of crimes, legal/regulatory loopholes, difficulty in identifying the complete network of criminals involved, lack of invested resources, lack of cooperation between stakeholders, and much more.
"Without prejudice, I think that there are ways for sport to mitigate the risks of manipulation. The first of them would be the implementation of preventive measures, which would basically be the creation of integrity and education programs for the participants of sporting events (ie athletes, coaches, managers and referees) capable of influencing results. The vast majority of such participants are unaware of what is allowed and prohibited in relation to their involvement in sports betting and what would be the consequences of such conduct - both in the sports disciplinary scope and in the criminal sphere. Considering that part of these participants will inevitably be approached by recruiters who aim to manipulate results at some point in their careers, it is essential that they are aware of the regulations and legislation on the subject and how they should proceed if they are recruited," he says.
“Furthermore, repressive measures must be implemented. As the vast majority of results manipulations involve sports betting, sports entities need to invest in integrity services and betting monitoring platforms. Bet monitoring platforms are present in most major leagues, in order to identify suspicious betting patterns and send reports to sports entities for further investigation into the possibility of manipulation in the specific event," adds Seckelmann.
Paulo Schmitt, a lawyer specializing in sports law and former attorney at the STJD (Superior Court of Sports Justice), emphasizes that sports organizations need to take the issue of integrity more seriously.
"Sport has to protect itself. Sports organizations have to take the issue of integrity seriously, putting it on the agenda in their internal programs and on three pillars: adequacy of norms, education and repression. Matches, competitions or equivalent must be monitored and the reports resulting from this control need to serve as a basis for the formulation of complaints in sports courts and speedy investigations in criminal instances. Educational activities must be part of a permanent agenda; the first information on topics related to integrity such as manipulation, fraud, doping, abuse and harassment, prejudice must come from the 'good side'. We need to get there sooner, otherwise it will be criminals, recruiters, manipulators, harassers that surround and dominate the scene," he says.
"The result is this avalanche of problems of manipulation and sports fraud that the reports of specialized companies point out. In terms of inspection and punishment in sports manipulations, the procedure has to be changed, adopting rules similar to those of doping, of strict liability, that is, if the detailed monitoring report points to an effective degree of suspicion, this must have a presumption of veracity. And all this must be part of an integrity policy, it requires investment, it cannot be seen as an expense. Just waiting for a response from police authorities and for this type of crime is to risk the credibility of the sport, as in a game of chance. Everyone loses," adds the lawyer.
Schmitt says that the COB (Brazilian Olympic Committee) is taking several actions in this regard, such as the ordinance designating the Fair Play Defense Committee and the Code for Preventing and Combating the Manipulation of Competitions. According to him, there is already a specialized body and its own rules to process and judge cases of manipulation, but it still needs to be operationalized.
Report results
About the SIS report, data showed that the company identified 84 games suspected of manipulation around the world in the first half of 2022. This number represents 0.45% of a total of 18,845 football games analyzed by the consulting company in the period. The company classifies games as "suspicious" when abnormal betting patterns are found associated with them that could be indicative of match-fixing.
Of these 84 matches, 26 (31%) took place in high-level competitions, 12 (14%) in international matches and only 5 in non-competitive friendlies.
For the head of SIS, Affy Sheikh, these numbers reinforce the need to adopt measures to combat the manipulation of results.
"These statistics provide insight into the extent of suspected match-fixing in football and underscore the need for greater diligence in combating the ever-present threat of match-fixing in sport. The rate of suspected match-fixing in football in the first half of this year is consistent with that of the two previous years," he declared.
These 84 matches considered suspicious of manipulation took place in 30 different countries, with most of them in Europe. Of this total, 41 matches (49%) were played in the UEFA region and 21 (25%) in the CAF (Asian Football Confederation) region.
"It is deeply concerning to see high-profile domestic competition standing out among these suspect matches, which perhaps dispels the common misconception that match manipulation tends to only occur in the minor leagues. This latest data serves as a reminder that a compromised effort and concerted action needs to be done if we are to make a tangible impact on the match-fixing problem," concluded Sheikh.
Source: UOL - Lei em Campo
