December 18 – South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) have signed up match-fixing monitoring specialists Sportradar to police the Suzuki Cup which kicks off December 23 in India.
Sportradar will use its Fraud Detection System (FDS) to monitor betting behavior and patterns and to identify any suspicious activities.
The tournament, in its 11th edition and will consist of 12 matches, with the final being played January 3.
Sportradar already provides monitoring and training on match-fixing issues to the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and has been expanding its activities in the area as the AFC has increasingly focussed on what is the biggest threat to the integrity of the game.
SAFF President Kazi Md. Salahuddin spoke about the importance of the fight against match-fixers, saying: “The integrity and credibility of the SAFF Suzuki Cup is of the utmost importance to the organizers, fans, sponsors and other stakeholders of the tournament, thus we are partnering with Sportradar to send a strong message that SAFF employs a zero tolerance policy against any form of match-fixing.”
In October three current and two former Nepal national team players were arrested in Kathmandu Valley as part of an investigation into match-fixing involving bookies in Malaysia and Singapore.
Nepal have qualified for the 2015 SAFF Suzuki Cup and are in the same group as hosts India, Sri Lanka Pakistan. The other group sees Afghanistan, Bhutan, Maldives and Bangladesh pitted against each other.
“Sportradar applauds SAFF for its commitment to integrity. On our part we will be doing our best to prevent the possibility of match-manipulation and make sure that any individual or team that disrespects the spirit of Fair Play is identified and severely punished,” said Andreas Krannich, Managing Director Security Services at Sportradar.
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