Fifa gives Interpol millions to combat Asia-based match fixing

Posted Tuesday, May 10, 2011 by theguardian.com

• 'Match fixing shakes the foundations of sport,' says Blatter
• If fans can't trust results, 'Fifa would lose all credibility'

Fifa gives Interpol millions to combat Asia-based match fixing
Sepp Blatter, the Fifa president, believes that Interpol's help is needed to tackle match fixing.

Fifa and Interpol have signed a landmark agreement aimed at eliminating Asian-based match fixing, which has led to scores of arrests across Europe and millions of pounds paid to players and officials.

Under a new 10-year agreement Interpol will receive around £3.5m from Fifa in the first two years followed by £1.3m in each of the following eight to try to wipe out the illegal betting rings that the Fifa president, Sepp Blatter, said struck at the heart of the governing body's credibility.

Blatter said: "Match fixing shakes the very foundations of sport. We are committed to doing everything in our power to tackle this threat. We have to try to put an end to these activities.

"Fans will no longer go to football matches if they know they are fixed and, if that happens, everything that has been created in Fifa will count for nothing.

"Fifa would lose all credibility if fans no longer believe in what is known in Great Britain as the beautiful game. It's not enough to go against corruption and bad behaviour on the field of play, red cards and yellow cards. We also have to look at those who try to destroy our game."

Commissioner Friedhelm Althans of Germany, who heads the Bochum inquiry into match fixing, gave a stark picture of the extent of the problem across Europe. He said: "We know about 300 matches in 20 countries where we have the suspicion that they may have manipulated.

"The matches concerned involve mainly lower-ranking leagues but it goes all the way up to national teams, Champions League matches and Europa League matches.

"The money involved for players, referees and officials amounts to €1.7m [£1.5m] but we don't know how much has been paid beyond our knowledge."

Althans warned the German inquiry was merely "the tip of the iceberg" and was joined in this assessment by the Interpol general secretary, Ronald Noble, who said the criminals involved move from country to country, sometimes with more than one set of false documents to move money around.

"We have to do everything in our power to keep the sport clean," Noble said. "Corruption in sport is so damaging. With a handful of cases you have to ask whether a viewer or spectator can have confidence in the match he or she is watching."

But, Noble said, Interpol had already enjoyed a number of successes which should send a clear message to the gambling dens. "During the 2010 World Cup we ran an operation out of Malaysia, China, Singapore and Thailand," he said. "During a one-month operation 5,000 arrests were made, in excess of $26m [£16m] in cash were seized and illegal gambling dens which handled more than $2bn worth of bets were closed."