Security chief warns of rising threat to game and need to educate and protect footballers


Fifa, world football's governing body, fears players from the game's poorer nations are being "trafficked" in order to facilitate match-fixing.

Young footballers are targeted at junior competitions and helped to earn deals with clubs in Europe and South and Central America by match-fixers, who in return pressurise them to alter the outcome of games from which criminal gambling syndicates can collect huge sums.

On Tuesday seven Zambians and two Georgians were convicted of taking bribes to affect the outcome of games in the Finnish league, with Wilson Raj Perumal, a Singaporean match-fixer, found guilty of bribing the nine players and sentenced to two years in prison. The players received a range of suspended sentences.

During the trial it was estimated that for fixing a game even in the low-key Finnish league, those behind the schemes could make ¤1.5m (£1.3m) per match and 24 fixed matches were identified. At an earlier trial in Finland this year two Zambian brothers were also convicted.

Chris Eaton, Fifa's head of security and the man overseeing the attempt to combat match-fixing, is concerned with the number of players being implicated and how they come to be involved in scams that are impacting leagues in Europe, Asia, Africa and South and Central America.

"It is a form of trafficking, in my view – trafficking for criminal purposes," Eaton told The Independent. "There are examples of players who have been abandoned because they did not perform.

At Fifa's congress in Zurich last month, moves to ensure friendlies would come under the governing body's control – previously they had been the responsibility of the host association – were passed. Coincidentally that evening Argentina played Nigeria in a friendly in Abuja, the home side winning 4-1 in a match that involved six players who are with Premier League clubs. The game is under investigation although there is no suggestion players are involved in wrongdoing. Eaton's security team are trying to trace the referee, Ibrahim Chaibou of Niger, who awarded a dubious penalty in the eighth minute of injury time. Betting patterns on the match were irregular.

I agree. I read a book called "The Fix" by Declan Hill, and he writes about the structure of it.

The fixer gets one player on board who gets a few others, but not too many because the less players, the more the split of money between them.

Usually happens in lower leagues ... he wrote about snakes being found in vehicles of referees and players who refused to help.

Some disgraceful stuff that is ruining the beautiful game.

This is sad, really its happens in all sports though.

Raptorgunner wrote:This is sad, really its happens in all sports though.

Yes. I hate when hockey and basketball and baseball fans say "football is corrupt."

Main reason ? Simple. Where are those sports popular ? In first-world countries.

Where is football popular ? All over the world. First, second, and third world countries. Crime rates are higher, match-fixing is higher. Simple.

Really it is hard to control it because it spans all over the world, it really is a problem though.