By Mark Baber
August 20 – FIFA subsidiary Early Warning System and the sports media group Perform have announced a new partnership which will see the integration of data from Perform into EWS’s integrity monitoring system in a major turnaround since this time last year.
According to a press release from OPTA, the data provider bought by Perform in 2013: “The agreement includes the integration of Opta’s historical and live performance data into EWS’ integrity monitoring system optimising the detection and analysis of suspicious activities in sports betting, which can be an indicator for match manipulation at football matches, including FIFA competitions.”
Perform Group and EWS will also share information “in an open and collaborative manner to further develop the integrity services of both parties.”
On signing the agreement, FIFA’s Director of Security, Ralf Mutschke said: “This cooperation with a leading sports data service provider is a perfect fit for our monitoring approach to ensure an effective and fact-based match analysis. Perform is a very strong partner in the global fight against match manipulation, and such cooperation represents a fundamental keystone of our overall strategy.”
Matthew Drew, previously Head of Corporate Development at OPTA and now Director of Integrity and Security at Perform said: “Perform fully supports EWS and its commitment to monitor and respond to the threat of match manipulation. We are delighted that Perform digital content can so readily be used in partnership with rights holders in order to strengthen the integrity of competitions. We look forward to cooperating with EWS for the benefit of FIFA competitions and those of its associations and confederations for a long time to come.”
Just last August Perform was described as being “under pressure” as its RunningBall division was caught up in providing data to bookmakers for a match in which, according to Perform, “the players that took part in the match were not from the teams scheduled to play, even though they were wearing the correct team colours and otherwise appeared to be in order.”
At the time Chris Eaton, the executive director of ICSS, a former Interpol officer and former head of security at FIFA, was quoted as having said: “Since its inception Runningball has had its fair share of industry-based criticism. It was one of the earliest monitoring agencies to emerge out of bookmaking and gambling interests.
“It needs full transparency around its practices and its people, who need to be cleared by responsible vetting, and operate with diligence and transparency.”
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