MIAMI -- As new seasons of football action kick off around the Confederation and the world, CONCACAF has announced initiatives to continue to strengthen its fight against match manipulation, by reinforcing the processes by which individual matches within Confederation competitions are monitored for potential match-fixing.
An important facet of the proactive approach in that fight will be match-by-match monitoring for potential manipulation in official matches such as those of the upcoming CONCACAF Champions League group phase. On the whole, CONCACAF continues to thoroughly monitor all of the matches played within its tournaments -- a vital step in safeguarding the integrity of our competitions. In addition, selected national team matches and friendlies of interest will now be subjected to increased monitoring scrutiny.
“Enhanced monitoring of Confederation-wide competition will serve as a deterrent for everyone who intends to influence our competitions in a negative way,” said Dr. Laila Mintas, CONCACAF Director of Sports Integrity. “With new standards in place for the quantity and quality of monitoring we will perform in the region, would-be match fixers can rest assured that they will be detected and they will be foiled.”
Match-by-match monitoring is one part of the newly unveiled CONCACAF Integrity Action Plan, in the fight against match manipulation. The program as a whole consists of a broad prevention and education program, in addition to efficient regulations including a recently implemented Code of Ethics, in-depth investigation, and the sanctioning of Member Association cases with zero tolerance.
The investigation of potential cases of match fixing by CONCACAF includes an important phase of gathering of all available information, including that obtained through the Confederation’s recently established whistleblower system, which is accessible via CONCACAF.com. To this end, CONCACAF also continues to work together with established betting market monitoring companies, including FIFA Early Warning System and Sportradar AG – with which official partnership contracts have now been extended--, to assure that Confederation officials will be provided with all information relevant to potential match fixing.
From a technical standpoint, monitoring systems are constantly scanning the betting market with their technological systems, to compare the market movements with the course of monitored matches with the end goal of finding irregularities which could be linked to manipulation. As soon as potential irregularities are detected, the CONCACAF Sports Integrity Department is informed, and a report with analysis of the specific match is forwarded.
Monitoring systems are an important part of the Confederation’s tool box in the fight against match-fixing, but further investigations are necessary in each case, and will be conducted when potential cases appear. As a whole, under the leadership of CONCACAF’s Sports Integrity Department, the Confederation is making good on its pledge to look deeper into every issue for which potential information on match-fixing is received, in taking another giant step towards stamping out all match manipulation activity in the region.
