Match fixing: Fifa and Interpol join forces in $20 million bid to fight match-fixing menace
Fifa and Interpol set to announce a $20 million partnership agreement intended to assist in the prevention and ultimate eradication of match-fixing in football.
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Time for action: Fifa headquarters in Zurich Photo: AFP
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On the attack: Fifa president Sepp Blatter is set to annouce a joint effort with Interpol to combat match-fixing Photo: REUTERS
By Paul Kelso, Chief Sports Reporter 10:46PM BST 08 May 2011
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Interpol secretary general Ron Noble will join Fifa president Sepp Blatter for the announcement in Zurich, at which Blatter will pledge to the funding package over the next 10 years to develop anti-corruption programmes specifically for football.
Senior investigators from Finland and Germany, where major match-fixing prosecutions involving hundreds of club and international matches are ongoing, will also be in Zurich to brief Blatter and secretary general Jerome Valcke on the threat corruption poses.
The Interpol agreement follows Telegraph Sport’s disclosure last week that Fifa investigators, working with Interpol, have begun a major inquiry into a global match-fixing ring it believes has been specifically targeting friendly internationals.
Wilson Raj Perumal, a convicted match-fixer who The Daily Telegraph revealed last week operated for at least seven months from a flat in the shadow of Wembley Stadium, is at the heart of the investigation. He is in custody in Finland on suspicion of bribing players to fix matches.
In Germany, meanwhile, police in Bochum have uncovered a massive fixing ring that they suspect of targeting more than 300 games. Ante Sapina, a Croatian convicted of match-fixing in 2005, is on trial with six other individuals charged with manipulating 47 specific matches.
Both the Finland and Bochum cases are understood to have raised numerous international leads that Fifa investigators, under head of security Chris Eaton, are pursuing in the largest inquiry yet undertaken by the governing body.
The Fifa funding will allow Interpol to develop preventative programmes for players, administrators and officials intended to raise awareness of the methods employed by fixers.
Educating young players is a priority, as is ensuring that administrators do adequate due diligence on third parties with whom they arrange matches. Educating and monitoring match officials is also crucial to preventing games being manipulated.
The ongoing investigation has revealed significant evidence that fixers have specifically targeted talented young players in 'grooming’ operations with a view to grooming them as potential future assets.
The focus on young players has prompted Fifa to step up prevention measures ahead of the under-17 and under-20 World Championships this summer in Mexico and Colombia.
“We have to be very careful to prevent them [match-fixers] having any impact on global competitions,” Eaton said. “We have the under-17 World Cup coming up in Mexico and we will be focusing on that with an education programme for national sides to alert them to the possibility that they might be approached by fixers.”
The funding will not be used for investigations, but it will strengthen ties with Interpol, which will in turn increase Fifa’s ability to target ongoing operations.
Anti-corruption investigations by Fifa and other sports bodies are constrained by a combination of factors. National law-enforcement agencies are restrained by jurisdiction and sport-related corruption is seldom a priority.
As a sports organisation Fifa also has limited powers to tackle figures who operate outside the game’s regulations.
The cross-border nature of the suspected fixing operation thrown up by the investigation so far has convinced investigators that they need the assistance from Interpol.
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