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FIFA steps up fight against match-fixing

(Agencies)
Updated: 2011-05-19 14:48

SINGAPORE - Illegal betting yields an estimated $90 billion annually, a figure equivalent to legal betting, FIFA's security chief Chris Eaton said on Wednesday, emphasising the need to curb corruption in soccer.

Soccer match-fixing brought "huge fraudulent winnings" against legal and illegal gambling institutions, Eaton added, although he did not have any figures on how much gambling on soccer is worth specifically.

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FIFA president Sepp Blatter last week pledged 20 million euros ($28.53 million) for a dedicated anti-corruption unit based in Singapore to fight match-fixing, which police officials said was a low-risk, high profit form of crime.

"Criminality involved in fixing football matches is global, enormous and organised," Eaton said. "Football is too respected globally to not be protected."

"These are criminals taking advantage. They are not to be respected, they are not Robin Hoods, they are not good people. They hurt players and they destroy careers."

The unit, in a partnership with Interpol, aims to develop a programme for soccer officials, players and administrators that warns against match-fixing and alerts them to how it dishonours the game and might ruin their careers.

It will involve international education and training over e-learning. Interpol will also brief and debrief players before and after every competition to ensure they are fully aware of what match-fixing might do to their careers.

"We protect young players, we protect young referees by teaching them to resist the temptations that these people are trying to take advantage of," Eaton, a one-time Interpol officer, said.

But the unit will not actively seek to clamp down or prosecute match-fixers.

"FIFA is a football management organisation. It is not an investigation organisation. We don't conduct a lot of security operations with a little bit of football. We conduct a lot of football with a little bit of security," Eaton said.

"Prosecution is not my priority, in fact, not a priority at all."