Tweet
FIFA: Cup qualifying clean of fixing
Published: Saturday | April 6, 2013
ZURICH (AP):FIFA's top investigator believes the 2014 World Cup qualifying programme has been clean of match-fixing after more than 500 matches played so far.
"Up to now, we don't have any leads that any match has been thrown," FIFA security director Ralf Mutschke told The Associated Press yesterday. "We are also confident that nothing will happen through the qualification."
The full programme of about 820 preliminary matches ends in November.
Hours before Mutschke spoke on the sidelines of a FIFA-sponsored conference on match-fixing and betting, football's governing body reached agreement with South African officials on how to complete an investigation into the 2010 World Cup host's allegedly manipulated warm-up matches ahead of the tournament.
South Africa's government will set up an independent commission to examine how now-convicted fixer Wilson Raj Perumal apparently hired referees to fix match results. The case could implicate national football body president Kirsten Nematandani, who attended the meeting at FIFA headquarters.
Across FIFA's home city, president Sepp Blatter and anti-corruption adviser Mark Pieth addressed delegates at a conference that also studied ethical management in sports.
Blatter confirmed that the issue of stripping his 97-year-old predecessor Joao Havelange of the honorary FIFA presidency following a kickbacks scandal could be discussed at next month's congress of 209 football nations in Mauritius.
'Stuff from the past'
FIFA's betting monitoring subsidiary, Early Warning System, hosted its two-yearly gathering two months after Europol, the European Union police liaison agency, said it reviewed 680 suspicious recent cases of fixing, including some World Cup games.
"This is stuff from the past," Mutschke said. "I understand they were old qualifiers and not for this tournament."
In the only recent prosecuted case of World Cup match-fixing, UEFA banned a Bosnian referee for life for colluding with a Croatian-led syndicate for a betting scam tied to his handling of a qualifier between Liechtenstein and Finland in September 2009.
Mutschke, a German former Interpol officer, suggested that clubs being infiltrated by mafia figures were at more risk than FIFA's signature event.
"The infiltration of organised crime on a club level is more than I expected a year ago, even in Europe," he said. "They are basically offering, like a sponsor or investor, to help out with financial problems, offering to pay salaries for the players because of match-fixing."
With football relying on national law enforcement agencies, Mutschke and Interpol sports integrity specialist Michaela Ragg stressed co-operation was crucial in the long-term fight against fixing.
FIFA got just that from South Africa sports minister, Fikile Mbalula, as his government agreed to lead a match-fixing probe that has stalled and resulted in football leader Nematandani being suspended from office and then reinstated within weeks.
FIFA and the South Africa Football Association haven't identified which matches might have been fixed but a 5-0 win over Guatemala and 2-1 win over Colombia in May 2010 have long been under suspicion. Three penalties were awarded in each match, most for handball offences.
The "long-standing case" was harming South African football, FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke said, promising advice and help from Zurich to Pretoria.
http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/2.../sports73.html
Published: Saturday | April 6, 2013
ZURICH (AP):FIFA's top investigator believes the 2014 World Cup qualifying programme has been clean of match-fixing after more than 500 matches played so far.
"Up to now, we don't have any leads that any match has been thrown," FIFA security director Ralf Mutschke told The Associated Press yesterday. "We are also confident that nothing will happen through the qualification."
The full programme of about 820 preliminary matches ends in November.
Hours before Mutschke spoke on the sidelines of a FIFA-sponsored conference on match-fixing and betting, football's governing body reached agreement with South African officials on how to complete an investigation into the 2010 World Cup host's allegedly manipulated warm-up matches ahead of the tournament.
South Africa's government will set up an independent commission to examine how now-convicted fixer Wilson Raj Perumal apparently hired referees to fix match results. The case could implicate national football body president Kirsten Nematandani, who attended the meeting at FIFA headquarters.
Across FIFA's home city, president Sepp Blatter and anti-corruption adviser Mark Pieth addressed delegates at a conference that also studied ethical management in sports.
Blatter confirmed that the issue of stripping his 97-year-old predecessor Joao Havelange of the honorary FIFA presidency following a kickbacks scandal could be discussed at next month's congress of 209 football nations in Mauritius.
'Stuff from the past'
FIFA's betting monitoring subsidiary, Early Warning System, hosted its two-yearly gathering two months after Europol, the European Union police liaison agency, said it reviewed 680 suspicious recent cases of fixing, including some World Cup games.
"This is stuff from the past," Mutschke said. "I understand they were old qualifiers and not for this tournament."
In the only recent prosecuted case of World Cup match-fixing, UEFA banned a Bosnian referee for life for colluding with a Croatian-led syndicate for a betting scam tied to his handling of a qualifier between Liechtenstein and Finland in September 2009.
Mutschke, a German former Interpol officer, suggested that clubs being infiltrated by mafia figures were at more risk than FIFA's signature event.
"The infiltration of organised crime on a club level is more than I expected a year ago, even in Europe," he said. "They are basically offering, like a sponsor or investor, to help out with financial problems, offering to pay salaries for the players because of match-fixing."
With football relying on national law enforcement agencies, Mutschke and Interpol sports integrity specialist Michaela Ragg stressed co-operation was crucial in the long-term fight against fixing.
FIFA got just that from South Africa sports minister, Fikile Mbalula, as his government agreed to lead a match-fixing probe that has stalled and resulted in football leader Nematandani being suspended from office and then reinstated within weeks.
FIFA and the South Africa Football Association haven't identified which matches might have been fixed but a 5-0 win over Guatemala and 2-1 win over Colombia in May 2010 have long been under suspicion. Three penalties were awarded in each match, most for handball offences.
The "long-standing case" was harming South African football, FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke said, promising advice and help from Zurich to Pretoria.
http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/2.../sports73.html