The apex football federation, FIFA, has signed an agreement with Sportradar Integrity Services under their ongoing Global Football Integrity Programme that will provide world football’s governing body with a full suite of monitoring, education and intelligence services to further strengthen the integrity of football around the globe.
With this new agreement, Sportradar, the global leader in match manipulation detection and prevention, will use its Fraud Detection System to identify and analyse any suspicious betting behaviour or patterns across a number of international and domestic competitions around the world.
Under the Global Football Integrity Programme, FIFA will work closely with the six continental confederations (CONCACAF, CONMEBOL, CAF, UEFA, the AFC and the OFC) that comprise FIFA’s member associations to ensure that any findings are provided to the appropriate organisations, and to support any relevant follow-up action or disciplinary proceedings. The monitoring activities will cover various FIFA tournaments, including the FIFA World Cup™ and its qualifiers, the FIFA Confederations Cup, the Olympic Football Tournaments and all of its youth competitions, as well as a wide range of national leagues and all confederation-run competitions.
Other than monitoring and detection, FIFA will be able to call on Sportradar’s in-house intelligence and investigation experts.
Under this agreement, Sportradar will also deliver a full range of fraud prevention services and provide a programme of educational workshops and e- learning solutions, as well as a bespoke app to enable players, coaches and staff to understand the importance of protecting the integrity of football and the repercussions of fraudulent activities. The app will allow them to confidentially and anonymously report any concerns.
Statements of Top Executives
Speaking about the agreement with Sportradar & the Global Football Integrity Programme, FIFA President Gianni Infantino said: “Preserving the integrity of the game is paramount to FIFA. Given that match manipulation is still a serious concern for everyone who loves the game, FIFA will work with Sportradar, the global leader in match manipulation detection and prevention, to invigorate and enhance our integrity programme. FIFA is committed to tackling match manipulation and protecting the integrity of football for players and fans.”
Sportradar CEO Carsten Koerl, speaking about the association with the top football entity, added: “It is an incredible honour to stand side by side with FIFA and also with all the confederations in a clear and unequivocal statement of intent and resistance. We have worked hard to earn the trust of a whole range of stakeholders across sport and of course football, and now we have the chance to join up all that work, expertise and insight and to provide the game with such a high level of monitoring and collaboration. We thank President Infantino and his team for their trust and look forward to working together with FIFA at the start of this new era.”
Sportradar
The company, Sportradar, is a global leader in understanding and leveraging the power of sports data and digital content for its clients around the world.
Sportradar is already associated with 13 sports, including the AFC, UEFA, CONMEBOL, World Rugby, the NHL and the NBA through the Fraud Detection System (FDS).
