UEFA to increase resources in the fight against match-fixing

UEFA is to fight on-field corruption with each member association to appoint a football social responsibility officer.

The UEFA Executive Committee has agreed to increase the resources UEFA invests into the fight against match-fixing and to further develop its internal unit of experts and investigators in the field.

The decision is the result of an independent feasibility study, which demonstrated that intelligence, investigation, and prevention, are the main sectors that need to be strengthened to better fight match-fixing.

The action plan which resulted from the feasibility study focuses among other on strengthening cooperation with relevant international and local authorities and increasing expertise and support for the key persons fighting match-fixing at the national and international level, in particular UEFA member associations’ Integrity Officers.

It also aims to develop a comprehensive education, awareness and training programme, developing and using additional technological tools to better identify integrity concerns and reinforcing the human resources at disposal.

“These measures will allow UEFA to realise its potential to strategically accomplish its statutory objectives to prevent all methods or practices which might jeopardise the regularity of matches or competitions or give rise to the abuse of football and to promote and protect ethical standards and good governance in European football,” UEFA said in a statement.

Additional resources will be invested to tackle and disrupt the operations of organised crime syndicates targeting European football matches and competitions by developing a closer collaboration with Law Enforcement Agencies in Europe, it added.

The next meeting of the UEFA Executive Committee is scheduled to take place in Chisinau, Moldova on September 22, 2021.

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