By Andrew Warshaw
January 17 – FIFA’s new director of security says he trying his best to step up the fight against match-fixing which, he believes, is rife throughout the game with as many as 50 leagues targeted by match fixers.
Ralf Mutschke has been in the job for seven months and this week was at the forefront of a two-day integrity of sport conference organised by FIFA in Rome.
Before the conference, Mutschke made himself available to various media representatives to outline his division’s strategy.
“I had an informal meeting here in Zurich with someone who had been found guilty of match-fixing,” Mutschke revealed. “He looked me right in the face and said: ‘Organised crime is getting away from its original criminal activities and moving into match-fixing, since there’s little risk and
lots to gain’.”
“This is my main aim and also my biggest challenge,” said the 53-year-old former Interpol director. “We need to strengthen the football community in the fight against corruption and match-fixing.”
One of the most important measures in this respect is the FIFA awareness programme, which involves briefing officials before all tournaments to make them better understand the problem. Regional and national workshops are also held in all confederations to ensure a systematic approach.
“There is far more than that, however,” said Mutschke. “We want to demonstrate that FIFA, in conjunction with our partner Interpol, is really focusing on this.”
To help achieve that, FIFA next month will be re-instating its whistle blower hotline enabling anyone suspecting match fixing to contact Mutschke’s department so it can act on any tips in conjunction with its so-called early warning system.
“We monitor around 1,500 matches a year, including all FIFA competitions and international friendlies,” said Mutschke. “At the moment about 50 national leagues outside of Europe are being targeted by organised crime figures in the betting market.”
Qualifying matches for the World Cup are not being spared but have, as yet, proved to be clean. “We’re obviously still keeping a very close eye on the matches, but as yet there have been no suspicions of fixing. International friendlies on the other hand are much more susceptible to this kind of thing.”
“My main aim is to set up a global network of integrity officers. The key to success is prevention, and we can only succeed if we work together.”
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