Asian Football Confederation partners with IBIA to combat match-fixing
Date: 2024-10-08 Author: Leon Pierce Categories: SPORTS BETTING
The memorandum of understanding (MoU) has committed to jointly identifying irregular betting patterns and suspicious activity in football. The partnership between the AFC and IBIA will run for four years.
IBIA will use its monitoring and alert platform to provide real-time data on suspicious betting activity to the AFC, which will improve the confederation’s ability to investigate potential match manipulation.
In addition, the parties noted that the partnership will support the AFC’s goal of creating a safe environment for sport.
AFC committed to fair play principles
Commenting on the agreement, AFC General Counsel and Chief Legal Officer Andrew Mercer said the organisation is committed to high ethical and sporting standards in football.
“Our vision and mission underline our ambition to uphold high ethical and sporting standards,” said Mercer. “We are committed to maintaining our core principles of fair play and integrity. It is important to establish strong links with leading organisations around the world.”
According to Mercer, the memorandum further strengthens the confederation’s ability to ensure the integrity of football in Asia for the benefit of fans, players and other stakeholders.
IBIA CEO Khalid Ali also welcomed the new partnership, stressing that collaboration is a “vital” aspect of any monitoring and investigation system.
“IBIA is pleased to strengthen its relationship with the AFC through this important collaboration in the area of information sharing,” said Ali. “For its part, IBIA will be committed to protecting the AFC ecosystem through its monitoring of its members’ global account activity, which covers over US$300 billion in sports betting annually.”
The AFC joins a long list of sports bodies working with IBIA to monitor events, including FIFA and UEFA, as well as the International Olympic Committee. IBIA also works with a large number of betting operators to combat corruption in sport.
Corruption in football remains a pressing issue for IBIA
Football continues to be one of the top sports raising corruption concerns for IBIA. In the latest Q2 Integrity Report, football had the second highest number of betting signals (16) of all sports.
However, eSports took the top spot with 48 signals, up from just one in Q2 last year. IBIA has recorded a single case in eSports involving suspicious betting activity across 68 esoccer matches played in Q1 and Q2.
A total of 90 signals were recorded in Q2. Other sports that received signals included table tennis with 12 signals, nine signals in tennis and two in badminton. In addition, handball, boxing and padel each received one signal.
