Fifa calls on Interpol in battle against illegal betting 04/12/2009 |
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Interpol will help Fifa set up an international taskforce to fight illegal betting in football after several high-profile cases in recent weeks.
Secretary general of the world police body Ronald Noble pledged “strong support” for the creation of the unit following talks with Fifa president Sepp Blatter this week.
Noble said that Interpol was “strongly placed” to help Fifa tackle illegal sports gambling.
“We know that illegal sports betting is frequently controlled by organised crime groups willing to corrupt players and officials as well as to use force and threats to collect unpaid debts,” he added.
The subject of illegal betting and match fixing was high on the agenda at a meeting of Fifa’s executive committee this week after recent events.
Last month, Uefa named five clubs – KF Tirana and KS Vllaznia of Albania, FC Dinaburg of Latvia, NK IB Ljubljana of Slovenia and Budapest Honved of Hungary –it wanted to investigate following allegations of match-fixing, while German prosecutors are probing a total of about 200 games played around Europe as part of the same investigation.
And earlier this week, it emerged that the Spanish Football Federation will conduct an inquiry into two Spanish second division clubs – Rayo Vallecano and Las Palmas – and seven players after a tip-off from Uefa about betting on matches.
Meanwhile, Fifa has turned down calls to restrict the Olympic men’s football tournament to players aged 21 and under.
The current rules allow countries to field players who are under 23 alongside three over-age players and Fifa have decided to remain with that format for the 2012 London Games despite a proposal by Uefa to lower the age limit.
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