By Andrew Warshaw in Belo Horizonte
June 21 – FIFA’s monitoring of World Cup warm-up matches revealed no apparent instances of match-fixing according to head of security Ralf Mutschke (pictured). Several friendlies before the 2010 World Cup were later found to have been rigged leading FIFA to take a close look at dozens of similar games in the build-up to Brazil.
“In South Africa we realised matches were manipulated prior to the World Cup,” Mutschke told a briefing. “From May 15 to June 11, we monitored 98 matches. There were no surprises, no indications of a fix.”
Mutschke said he would not discuss ongoing cases or comment on whether an incident might or might not have been the result of match-fixing, such as the Colombian linesman who over-ruled two perfectly good goals against Mexico and has now been dropped by FIFA.
In a veiled swipe at his precedessor at FIFA, Chris Eaton – now playing a prominent role at the Qatar-based International Centre for Sport Security – he added: “My predecessor revealed a lot of information to the media while cases were ongoing, that is not my style. I have strong respect for the integrity of people, I won’t say anything before we proved something happens. People are innocent until proved guilty.”
Outlining FIFA’s work in the fight against match manipulation, Mutschke said illegal betting rings targeted specific incidents during games (known as spot fixing) just as much as the result itself. Special attention would be paid, he said, to the latter stages of the World Cup.
“We look at a level of higher vulnerability in the closing matches at the end of each group when some teams already know what will happen. This is part of our risk management strategy. “
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