By Paul Nicholson
August 7 – The involvement of organised criminal gangs (OCGs) in sports, and football in particular, is increasing in Europe and the Covid crisis has accelerated that increase, according to a new report by Europol, the European Union’s agency for law enforcement cooperation.
August 3 – The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has issued another life time ban on a Laos national team player for match fixing.
By Paul Nicholson
July 17 – In 2018 when Insideworldfootball and Rex Sport hosted their Tackling Match-fixing conference in London a number of panellists made the point that betting related match manipulation was the playground of major organised crime gangs.
July 8 – Football authorities in Armenia have suspended their entire second tier and handed out 45 lifetime bans after one of the biggest match-fixing episodes of recent years in Europe.
May 20 – The integrity of a match reportedly played between two Brazilian clubs on March 25, and which was offered on the betting markets attracting a reported £1.4 million in wagers, is being investigated.
April 24 – In a landmark ruling, nine former executives, players, and businessmen including five former directors of Osasuna and two ex-Real Betis players have been handed prison sentences after being found guilty of being involved in match-fixing – the first time ever that sporting corruption has led to jail terms in Spain.
April 17 – Former Nigerian international Dickson Etuhu (pictured), who played for a raft English teams including Manchester City, has been banned from football in Sweden, where he last competed, for five years for attempted match-fixing.
April 6 – UEFA has issued an intelligence alert to its federations warning that match-fixers are quickly adapting to Covid-19 restrictions, despite the bulk of leagues and games across Europe having been shut down.
By Paul Nicholson
March 31 – The coronavirus lockdown has not stopped football-related betting fraud with the re-emergence last weekend of so-called ‘ghost’ games in Ukraine.
February 26 – Two Laos internationals have been handed life bans for alleged match-fixing by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC).
February 18 – FIFA is investigating suspected match-fixing in Myanmar’s 7-0 defeat in a World Cup qualifier last year.
February 5 – FIFA has banned four Kenyan-based players for their involvement in match-fixing in the latest case of rigging to rock African football.
January 30 – The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has extended its integrity partnership with Sportradar aimed at tackling match manipulation and betting fraud in the Asian game. The agreement will run through to 2023 and the next Asian Cup in China.
January 22 – Top-flight Spanish club Osasuna rigged matches over two seasons in an attempt to avoid relegation, a court heard on Tuesday in the latest match-fixing revelations to strike at the heart of European football.
January 20 – Football in Cyprus has once again been plunged into a suspected match-fixing scandal after a raft of matches were postponed at the weekend following notifications sent by UEFA with regard to suspicious betting activity and a bomb attack against a local official.