GMB – As the new director of integrity at Sportradar, how do you see the importance of the topic for sports?
Felippe Marchetti – It's fundamental. Integrity is the most basic pillar of sports. If we don't have clean sports, we lose all the morality and people's interest in the sports market. No one will want to watch a competition that is manipulated, that is already pre-arranged. The big difference in sports, for example, compared to a play, to the cinema, is the issue of not being able to identify the final result. Once you lose that, you lose the example and motivation for people to watch sports competitions. So, integrity is fundamental to keeping sports safe and clean here in Brazil.
Sportradar has just released a new report, and Brazil continues to lead the world ranking in match-fixing. How do you assess all this attention on Brazil?
Despite Brazil still leading the ranking, with 109 cases, there has been a reduction of 29 cases from last year to now. I see this as positive, and this is also largely due to the actions of the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF), which appointed a new director of integrity with new policies for this.
Furthermore, we need to put these numbers into perspective. Brazil is the country in the world with the most matches monitored by Sportradar in football. There are 9,000 games. So, 109 manipulated matches amount to 1.2% of the total. The global average for world football was 0.63. On average, Brazil is still above global levels. However, if we divide it between national-level games managed by the CBF, it would be 0.71, which is close to the global average, and games from state federations account for 1.35 of the total matches played in Brazil with indications of manipulation in regional competitions.
What accounts for such a large discrepancy?
Mainly because in state competitions, we have athletes with much greater vulnerability, many with low salaries. Today, 84% of Brazil's athletes receive around a minimum wage with short-term contracts. So, they go there, play for 2 or 3 months in a state tournament, the contract ends, and they leave the South, go play in the North in a completely different competition. Thus, they don't have financial security to be able to develop their work. And the manipulators are very well trained to identify the easiest targets. They specifically look for these people who are in vulnerable conditions to approach them and make offers. So, the smaller competitions in Brazil are the ones most at risk.
We need to develop an integrated work between Sportradar, CBF, state federations, Federal Police, and now with the federal government as well, with regulation through the Ministry of Sports and the Ministry of Finance. This way, we will have a faster, constant, and efficient flow of information among all actors, so that we can identify who the manipulators are and act very quickly and effectively.
Moreover, it's also important to have educational measures that are effective and can address the root of the problem, educating both grassroots and professional athletes. Since I took over as director of integrity, I've already partnered with nine federations in the Northeast and also with the three in the South for an educational platform for athletes. We have a 25-minute video where the athlete receives training on manipulation and other integrity issues in sports. Upon receiving this information, they may be required to act correctly and know the risks of getting involved with manipulators. They will understand that there is the involvement of organized crime behind the manipulation and all the risks involved in getting involved with this type of practice.
Match-fixing exists worldwide. What are the main tools to combat it from a law enforcement perspective in Brazil?
The first thing is the flow of information. What would be the ideal system for detection? First, monitoring games, which is what we do in this agreement we have with the CBF, to identify which matches have been manipulated. The second source is having a secure and anonymous reporting mechanism. Many athletes do not have confidence in sports entities or even in the police to report because they know that it can turn against them. So, having a mechanism that guarantees this security and confidentiality. At Sportradar, we have a reporting app that ensures athletes' anonymity and can work together with sports entities.
Is this app already available in Brazil?
Yes, it is available. At the moment, we are not working with any sports federation using the tool in Brazil, but if any entity is interested, we can discuss and implement it in Brazil.
And I also mention the third step, which would be hours of investigation and intelligence. Within Sportradar, we have a group specialized in investigating match-fixing cases, and through this intelligence, we can support investigations by the Federal Police and the Public Prosecutor's Office to show the connection between manipulators and other possible criminals involved with athletes, coaches, and officials.
We know that there are clubs in Brazil that are being leased or outsourced by manipulators. Match-fixing is a phenomenon that involves different levels and is very complex. So, there is no one solution, one recipe for this. Through different integrated solutions, working in a holistic way, we will be able to combat the problem and improve Brazil's situation in the coming years.
Source: Exclusive GMB
