By Andrew Warshaw
February 3 – The role and reputation of Sportradar in detecting global match-fixing and irregular betting patterns has received a major boost after FIFA decided to hire the specialist firm in place of its own detection division.
In essence, FIFA’s Early Warning System that has been operating for a decade will now run by Swiss-based Sportradar whose Fraud Detection System, FIFA says, will “identify and analyze any suspicious betting behaviour or patterns.”
Sportradar is already rolling out its match manipulation detection system with UEFA as well as both the Asian Football Confederation and South America’s CONMEBOL, and will provide FIFA with “a full suite of monitoring, education and intelligence services to further strengthen the integrity of football around the globe.”
FIFA has yet to replace its security director Ralf Mutschke, a former Interpol director who unexpectedly departed in December after being in charge of World Cup security. But FIFA president Gianni Infantino was at pains to stress that weeding out the criminals is still a priority.
Describing match-fixing as “still a serious concern for everyone who loves the game,” Infantino said Sportradar would “invigorate and enhance” FIFA’s own integrity programme.
Sportradar CEO Carsten Koerl said the company, which operates across 13 sports, had “worked hard to earn the trust of a whole range of stakeholders across sport and of course football, and now we have the chance to join up all that work, expertise and insight and to provide the game with such a high level of monitoring and collaboration.”
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