Match Fixing or cheating in
general in sport is nothing new with the numerous scandals that have come to
light over the last few years notably in cricket and cycling but some reason, cheating
or match fixing in football has been greeted with shock with the news of a
Europol investigation into the sport finding that “380 matches across Europe… (were)
fixed”[1].
Europol also the widespread involvement in match fixing scheme run by a ‘organized
crime syndicate’ citing that “around 425 match officials, club officials,
players and criminals (are) under suspicions”[2].
In their investigation, Europol
made public their suspicions that unbelievably, “World Cup and European
Championship qualifiers, two Champions League ties and "several top football
matches in European leagues"” were fixed[3].
Some may ask why Match fixing has taken place and the answer is rather simple, money.
According to the guardian, “Criminals put 16 million (euros) on rigged matches
and made 8 million (euros) in profits”[4].
However for all Europol’s
findings in their investigation into the beautiful game, it has been met with
ire of footballs biggest football, namely, the FA, UEFA and FIFA due to Europol
not giving the football authorities a heads up to their investigation[5].
In light of Europol suspicions that match fixing took place a champions league
game in England, the FA went on the defensive
stating that “"The FA [is] not
aware of any credible reports into suspicious Champions League fixtures in
England, nor has any information been shared with us."”[6].
this also corresponds with FIFA’s calls
for greater “cooperation with law enforcement agencies” and UEFA restating it stance of ““zero tolerance” for
match fixing”[7]
.
While Europol’s claims come
across as sensational, it would be unwise to argue that football is free of
instances of match fixing. Just last month, FIFA took swift action by banning for life 41 South Korean players “who had been involved
in prearranging matches”[8].
Key football figures have warned of the
threat Match Fixing poses to football with FIFA official Jerome Valcke citing
it as a disease and a threat (that) is on a worldwide basis” [9].
Michel Platini , head of Europe’s ruling football body UEFA, cited match fixing
as the “greatest threat to football” as he imagined a scenario that "If
tomorrow, we'll see a game and we already know the result, football is dead"[10].
However if match fixing will kill football, it has definitely had taken its
best shot in recent years, particularly in Italy.
The most infamous case of match
fixing in recent years took place in Italy with the Calciopoli scandal which ended with the relegation of Juventus and the stripping of
their recently won Serie A title. It is an scandal that still haunts the
Italian game with participants in the scandal still making headlines[11].
The game in Italy has been
blackened further with revelations of match fixing taking place at the higher
reaches of Italian football once again with
a number of players and managers investigated and eventually banned,
including Lazio player Stefano Mauri and Juventus’s championship winning coach
and former player Antonio Conte[12].The investigation even
disrupted the national team’s Euro 2012 preparations when Italian paid a visit
to their training base “to speak to Zenit St Petersburg defender Domenico
Criscito as part of a wide-ranging investigation into match fixing”[13]
.
Italy, unfortunately is not the
only country affected by match fixing as the crime has proved itself, like a growing
number of crimes, to be a global phenomenon. The Europol investigation found
that “in total, 380 European matches are under suspicion, with a 300 in Africa,
central and South America and Asia also identified”[14].
In sum, Europols’ findings on
football match fixing are shocking but not surprising as there has been serious
cases of Match fixing is one of the games top leagues and beyond. The institutions
involved in policing the game have paid much lip service to the destructive
effect that match fixing can have on the beautiful game but have done little to
make sure it keep its integrity.
[1] The
Guardian, Europol: investigators identify 380 fixed football matches, http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2013/feb/04/europol-investigation-football-matchfixing
[2]
Ibid
[3]
Ibid
[4] Ibid
[5] D.
Conn, 2013, Europol’s match-fixing bombshell leaves football authorities in the
dark, http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2013/feb/04/europol-match-fixing-football
[6]
Ibid, quoted by Conn
[7]
Ibid
[8] P.
Pinto and T. McGowan, 2013. FIFA official Jerome Valcke: ‘Match Fixing is a
soccer disease’, http://edition.cnn.com/2013/01/23/sport/football/match-fixing-fifa-valcke-football/?hpt=hp_bn2
[9]
Ibid
[10]
The Independent, 2013, Match Fixing great threat to football says Michel
Platini, http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/news-and-comment/matchfixing-greatest-threat-to-football-says-michel-platini-8461369.html
[11]
Sportsnet, 2012, Italian Match Fixing Refs Ordered To Pay $5M, http://www.sportsnet.ca/soccer/2012/10/17/italian_match_fixing_refs/
[12] A.Johnston,
2012, How Italy has reacted to the latest match-fixing arrests, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-18239792
[13]
CNN, 2012, Police raid Italian soccer squad’s base in match fixing
investigation, http://edition.cnn.com/2012/05/28/sport/football/football-italy-match-fixing
[14]
R. Scott-Eliot, 2013, Football left in crisis by police report that says
match-fixing is rife, http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/news-and-comment/football-left-in-crisis-by-police-report-that-says-matchfixing-is-rife-8480648.html
No comments:
Post a Comment