UEFA determined to fight match-fixing

On the second day of its meeting in Funchal, Madeira, the UEFA Executive Committee received an update on the situation regarding betting irregularities on matches across Europe, in the light of the recent events and the current investigation by German police still ongoing in several countries.

Betting Fraud Detection System
The Executive Committee received details on the scope of the UEFA Betting Fraud Detection System, which monitors some 29,000 games across Europe, including all UEFA competition fixtures as well as all first and second division, and national cup matches across all 53 member associations.

UEFA's determination
UEFA President Michel Platini and General Secretary Gianni Infantino joined forces to pledge UEFA's determination to combat betting irregularities and match-fixing. "If we begin to know the results of matches before the matches take place, we would have to stop," said Mr Platini. "Children would have to stop playing football, people would have to stop going to the stadiums. We are going to deploy every means necessary to combat [those who] cheat."

Ready for the challenge
"We have established a Betting Fraud Detection System which monitors the betting market all around the world 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year," added Mr Infantino. "We will sanction very harshly anyone who is manipulating the result of a match. We have collaborated with police authorities to make sure that these criminal activities are tackled and this cancer is eradicated from the game before it gets too big. It's a challenge, and we are ready."

New UEFA service company
In other business, the UEFA Executive Committee approved the creation of a new UEFA service company, called UEFA Events SA. The company will act as a wholly-owned subsidiary of UEFA and has been created to manage and handle UEFA's commercial and event operations. The UEFA Executive Committee already appointed David Taylor as Chief Executive of the new company at its previous meeting held in Nyon in September.

Earlier decisions
Several decisions were also taken on Thursday – click here for details. The next meeting of the UEFA Executive Committee will take place in Valletta, Malta, on 28 and 29 January 2010.