By Andrew Warshaw
February 10 – The scourge of match fixing across the globe has resulted in up to 50 separate national investigations, FIFA has revealed.
Football’s world governing body also said it has formally approved the ban on 26 individual cases already punished by the Finland and Turkey national federations.
These include 24 sanctions on amateur and professional players, coaches, and club and match officials imposed by the Turkish Football Federation (TFF) for match fixing and betting, comprising six lifetime bans; four bans of three years; two bans of two-and-a-half years; six bans of two years; and six further bans of one year.
In Finland, the national federations had suspended two players from all national football activities for two years as of April 6 – and these have now been ratified by FIFA.
FIFA secretary general Jérôme Valcke said: “FIFA’s commitment to tackling match fixing is unwavering.
“The decisions of the FIFA Disciplinary Committee demonstrate our determination to protect the foundation of sport and fair play, showing zero tolerance to those who do not share FIFA’s ethos.
“We hope these decisions send a clear message around the world.
“If you do not play by the rules you will be punished.”
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