World’s football governing body FIFA and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) will work together on a new campaign against match-fixing, UNODC announced in press release today.
Feel Confident to Report Suspected Match-Fixers
The initiative will seek to raise awareness of the availability of confidential reporting tools that will make people more comfortable to speak out against the practice which threatens to destroy the integrity of the sport.
“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. Working with governments, sports organisations and all stakeholders, we can build on the UN Convention against Corruption to tackle match-fixing and keep sport fair for all.”
Ghada Waly, Executive Director, UNODC
The campaign seeking to raise awareness and trust in the confidential reporting platforms provided by FIFA, launched on the International Anti-Corruption Day, December 9, featuring messages from a number of FIFA Legends, among which Ivan Cordoba, Wael Gomaa, Stipe Pletikosa, Sun Wen, Luke Wilkshere, Bibiana Steinhaus and Clementine Toure.
MoU to Tackle Crime Threat to Football
The campaign is a continuation effort of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed by FIFA and UNODC in September to address threats posed by crime to the sport. The MoU defined 5 main areas of cooperation, among which the exchange of “information and expertise with regard to preventing corruption in sport, and in particular competition manipulation”.
“This new joint campaign between FIFA and UNODC, just a few weeks after the signing of our Memorandum of Understanding, is a strong message about our absolute commitment and determination to eliminating match-fixing and corruption in football.”
Gianni Infantino, President, FIFA
Both organizations believe that due to the ongoing coronavirus situation, its impact on the sports and the uncertainty for the future it brings, the risk to the integrity of players, coaches and officials is heightened, hence will join efforts to urge people involved in football to report every attempt by suspected match-fixers.
“In these unprecedented times marked by the COVID-19 pandemic, 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.“
Gianni Infantino, President, FIFA
Protect the Integrity of the Sport
The broader message sent to players, coaches and other football-related officials was that as reporting match-fixing is part of their duties to preserve the integrity of the sport, they could feel comfortable doing so, in the knowledge that the information they provide would be treated in the strictest confidential manner by the governing body’s integrity experts.
“Sports and sporting events are vital to our well-being, and they have a crucial role to play in helping our societies and economies recover from the pandemic. That is why we must work together to ensure that sport recovers with integrity.“
Ghada Waly, Executive Director, UNODC
Besides the available reporting resources at fifa.com/bkms, the FIFA Integrity App or at e-mail integrity[at]fifa.org, in September, FIFA endorsed the Red Button App provided by the international federation of professional footballers FIFPro, to help alleviate fears by players regarding potential consequences from reporting match-fixing attempts.