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Interpol And FIFA’s Fight For Sport To Recover From Covid-19 With Integrity

This article is more than 3 years old.

World Anti-Corruption Day 2020, on December 9th, saw countless organizations—including the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the European Parliament’s (EP) Sports Group, The International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) and Interpol—warn that the Covid-19 pandemic had made sport uniquely vulnerable to match-fixing, corruption, money-laundering and transnational crime. Despite official consensus on steps to help sport "Recover With Integrity" from Covid-19, available data depicts new and likely unprecedented challenges for the sector in 2021.

The International Organizations Stepping Forward To Stop Crime In Sport

On December 9th 2020, sports organizations used Global Anti-Corruption Day to outline a series of initiatives which recognized increasing instances of crime in sport—particularly match-fixing. Industry analysts such as Stats Perform and Starlizard Integrity Services had reported a marginal decrease in match fixing, from 0.61% to 0.56% of games played in 2019. In reference to the findings reported, Starlizard's Head of Integrity Services, Affy Sheikh, told me by email that "This is an issue we at Starlizard Integrity Services are following closely as part of our efforts. Our work with sport governing bodies to combat the threat of match-fixing continues. This is a threat we are monitoring closely".

The prognosis for the third quarter of 2020 has deteriorated significantly. Statistics for the third quarter of 2020 provided by the Global Lottery Monitoring System (GLMS), indicate that reports of suspicious betting patterns increased by 91.3%—suggesting that, when compared to pre-pandemic data—Covid-19 saw match fixing almost double. As 81.8% of reports concerned soccer, FIFA has shown justifiable concern. As I reported in a previous article for Forbes, the organization signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in September 2020. The partnership's theme for World Anti-Corruption Day aligned with the IOC's—hoping to lead the drive for soccer to also "Recover With Integrity". The organization had described how "the backdrop of the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic and the associated economic uncertainty creates a higher integrity risk for players and clubs around the world".

In remarks ahead of World Anti-Corruption Day—when FIFA's partnership with UNODC officially launched—FIFA's President, Gianni Infantino sought to emphasize his understanding of the economic pressure that had come with Covid-19, league closures and global recession. Infantino described the importance of FIFA's relationship with Interpol, remarking, “It is essential that we work together with partners such as the UNODC to ensure that players, coaches and officials have the confidence to speak out against match-fixing, as well as any other integrity issues"

UNODC Executive Director Ghada Waly echoed Infantino's desire to eradicate match-fixing, but also described the extent of the threat to sport—in a detailed and far-reaching statement, which suggested a renewed interest and understanding of the risks which emerged in 2020. "The UNODC has joined forces with FIFA to support efforts aimed at preventing, detecting, reporting and sanctioning match-fixing and other forms of corruption in sport" Waly commented. "Working with governments, sports organizations and all stakeholders, we can build on the UN Convention against Corruption to tackle match-fixing and keep sport fair for all."

Whether FIFA and its partners can eradicate the current threat to sports integrity remains to be seen. The scale of the problem is substantial, and is fueled by the economic realities of recession—as FIFA itself recognizes in documents issued to clubs in order to prevent corrupt approaches to players.

The Impact Of Economics On Sports Integrity

As The Economist has reported, the National Basketball Association, the National Football League and Major League Baseball stand to face "a fall in revenue of $13bn in 2020". The Economist also estimates that The England Cricket Board is currently expecting a shortfall in revenue to the sum of $240 million U.S Dollars. Meanwhile, Deloitte's Annual Review of Football Finance for 2020 estimates that the English Premier League PINC will lose approximately $670 million U.S Dollars in the 2019-2020 season. Deloitte's forecast identifies particularly bleak prospects for clubs in lower divisions—which intimate that clubs outside the top tiers have long standing problems with cash flow.

When examining the fortunes of the United Kingdom's second soccer league, the English Football League (EFL), Deloitte identify a disconnect with economic reality for clubs determined to move to the Premiership. Concurrently, Deloitte note that "For the fourth time in seven seasons, a record-breaking wages to revenue ratio (107%) [within EFL clubs] demonstrated the collective lack of control. In no other industry would such a metric be viable, and whilst football benefits from the desire of many to fund those losses, the impact of the pandemic on club owners’ broader finances and business interests brings the question of long-term sustainability into sharper focus than ever". As FIFA itself notes in guidance to teams, lowering wages increases the risk of corrupt approaches—yet simply to remain soluble, it would follow that this is the only option for teams. Claudio Marinelli, Project Manager on Integrity in Sport at Interpol, has underscored how ailing prospect for sides in lower leagues is creating opportunities for match fixing. "The attention of criminals is on low level competition rather than in the past they were targeted more high level competition and high level tournaments" Marinelli stated, and discussed at length, in an in-depth discussion on corruption and Covid-19 in a podcast for the International Betting Integrity Association (IBIA).

Policing Sport: How The Sector Has Diversified During The Pandemic

Attorneys who specialize in sports law for their clients believe that finding solutions to mitigate the economic pressure on the sports industry will be very challenging—despite the positive tone of UNODC and FIFA's campaign. They are also concerned that bodies who fight transnational crime and corruption have taken too long to act, and may not comprehend the new ties between organized crime and professional sport—or the forms this now takes.

As Richard Barbalis Esq. who is a sworn advocate of the Republic of Latvia and expert in transnational crime told me, the conventional criminal practices common to sport have ballooned during the pandemic. But in Barbalis' capacity as attorney he has also witnessed how the diversification of e-sports, cybercrime and gambling during the pandemic has created knowledge gaps for regulators, "grey zones" for certain sports and legal questions for sports law attorneys.

"Match-fixing, irregular betting patterns and ghost-matches in minor leagues or countries with a high ranking on the Corrupt Perceptions Index were once the crime which regulators detected less" Barbalis told me, in an interview, by telephone, from his office in Riga, Latvia.

"As Interpol have remarked, 202o has brought signs of far more sophisticated transnational criminal involvement. Interpol itself has recognized the diversification of illegal activity in sport, innovation by criminal networks, and the presence of new criminal activities—particularly cyber-crime, and control over players via transfer arrangements. Covid-19 has exposed the sport's industry's multifoliate vulnerabilities. Legal ambiguities have also emerged".

Barbalis added. "E-Sports is a field where we have developed some expertise as attorneys due to our base in the Baltic states and the well documented growth of the technology sector here. FIFA and UNDOC appear to be targeting very well known sectors at the current time—particularly conventional match fixing. If we are to truly recover with integrity, we must recognize that 2020 changed sports, and the sector which regulators are now policing, and in which we act for clients, has different questions compared to 2019, and new stakeholders, along with different vulnerabilities and many legal grey zones".

There is no doubt that UNODC and Fifa are to be commended for taking a proactive response to what is undoubtedly a very difficult time for the sports industry. Yet there is little doubt too of the extent of the threat. In an interview by email, Jake Marsh, who is Global Head of Integrity at Stats Perform told me that “Covid-19 has created fertile conditions for fraudsters and corrupters alike to operate. Sports at all levels are under pressure from a financial perspective as a result of the pandemic and the lower levels— already at higher risk of problems such as match-fixing are now even more exposed". Echoing Barbalis' concerns, and emphasizing the pressure on regulators, Marsh added,

"Fixers are always looking for routes in [to teams, clubs and players], and Covid-19 will provide opportunities they can look to exploit. Even with increased pressure on budgets sports need to be committed now more than ever to investing in their compliance and integrity programs. At Stats Perform we work with numerous rights holders and governing bodies who take a proactive and steadfast approach on integrity and we will be helping them protect their competitions and reputation as we move through this extraordinary period for sport".

Success in protecting global integrity from transnational crime will now depend upon whether traditional organizations, with strong understanding of established corrupt behavior in sport, can adapt their understanding to disrupt new patterns of criminality which have emerged during the Covid-19 pandemic.


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