By Duncan Mackay
November 6 – A new set of draconian legislation to help fight corruption and match-fixing in football is being introduced by the Russian Government.
Under the proposals unveiled by Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko, offenders could be sent to jail for up to seven years and face fines of up to a million rubles (£20,000/$32,000/€25,000).
The new law could be in place by the end of the year, Mutko claimed.
“We’re talking about a whole set of measures aimed to fight the falsification of results, illegal betting and match-fixing,” Mutko said.
“Wire-tapping would be one of them.”
While Russia is getting ready to host the 2018 FIFA World Cup, experts say widespread match-fixing and corruption have been rife in the domestic game but that offenders are rarely convicted or brought to trial.
Only one team, second division Spartak Vladikavkaz – then Iriston Vladikavkaz, has been found guilty of attempted match-fixing.
It was thrown out of the league in 1997 but later reinstated in a lower division.
FIFPro, the global union for professional players, published a survey of nearly 3,400 players from Eastern Europe this year that said match-fixing in Russia was as high as 43.5 per cent.
Mutko, who also heads Russia 2018, claims the new measures would help police bring the criminal element to justice.
“The most important thing is to create a legal instrument that would allow the law enforcement agencies to effectively deal with any suspicious results or matches,” said Mutko, who is also a member of FIFA’s ruling Executive Committee.
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