“The situation is alarming. The Italian sports minister, Andrea Abodi, said the same thing that there is in fact a crisis of addiction to gambling, which affects players at the highest level,” he said.
CEO of SIGA, Emanuel Macedo de Medeiros is one of the world's leading authorities when it comes to integrity and good governance practices. This week, the entity signed a cooperation agreement with the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF).
“We have signed a very important partnership to combat all types of crime that may occur in football, match manipulation, money laundering in football, racism, harassment. With competence in all these topics, SIGA is the largest institution in the world in terms of integrity in sport,” said Edinaldo Rodrigues, president of the CBF.
The global CEO of SIGA highlighted that Brazilian football needs to look to the future, in favor of the professionalization of the sport in the country.
“Brazilian football can, and should, be more than its past glories. You can, and should, look to the future and realize your potential. To be modern, competitive, and sustainable football. With a reformist vision, future strategy, and long-term objectives. A football of causes, not of cases. Free from scandals, opportunists, and suspicions,” pondered Emanuel.
Regarding sports betting, he stated that “it must be offered and exist within a framework of reality. We cannot cite nebulous situations of companies that are domiciled in tax havens, in completely opaque jurisdictions, without any governance, without integrity, without any transparency.”
“We cannot allow football in Brazil or any other country to be open to infiltration by shadowy organizations that are not legal,” said Emanuel.
“It is necessary to legislate what types of bets can be offered, because some bets by their nature are offensive to the dignity and integrity of the sport. But it is necessary to legislate for the reputation of athletes, including the most vulnerable, the youngest, and this is not being done,” SIGA’s CEO.
The Sports Integrity Global Alliance is a worldwide organization that promotes sporting integrity. SIGA provides independent rating and certification for sport to ensure it is governed and operates in accordance with integrity standards.
The institution was created in 2015, in an international public-private partnership, made up of sports organizations, governments, anti-corruption NGOs, intergovernmental organizations and commercial partners.
Source: CNN Sports
