Blatter: Scourge of match-fixing getting worse
Reuters - Thursday 22 March 2012, 09:49
The scourge of match-fixing
is undermining football and the problem is getting worse, FIFA
President Sepp Blatter said on Thursday.
Blatter, addressing the UEFA Congress in Istanbul, said
FIFA's decision to use an 'early warning system' which monitors
suspicious betting patterns and alerts the international police
force Interpol was paying off but that the problem was growing.
He also alluded to Turkey being affected by match-rigging -
Fenerbahce were banned from the Champions League this season due
to match-fixing.
"Are we responsible for all the evils in our world? No. But
we must see to it that we stay alert," said Blatter. "There is
something that is new and concerns the region where we are and
that is illegal betting and this leads to match rigging."
Blatter was pleased that FIFA, UEFA and the other
confederations were working closely with Interpol.
"We are working together against the scourge of
match-rigging, which is undermining our sport. This makes our
sport a matter of chance when matches are being rigged."
Turkey's Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan also spoke of
match-fixing in his address to the Congress but said individuals
and not clubs should be punished.
"We must punish the individuals involved, the criminals, and
not perhaps entire clubs or communities," he said.
Early newspapers carried an open letter to UEFA President
Michel Platini and UEFA officials which began: "Turkish Football
Is Corrupted" and called on UEFA to take action against the
Turkish FA which, they claimed, "has blocked the applications of
disciplinary actions against match-fixing for eight months."
The letter was signed by the Turkish Fair Play Platform.
Blatter also announced that UEFA's new insurance cover for
European-based players on international duty would be extended
worldwide and that FIFA would insure all players involved in
international matches on official dates from the start of the
2014 World Cup qualifying campaign in September.
"You have to have the best interests of the players and we
will have the pleasure of announcing at the next executive
committee that from this year we will have total insurance
coverage for all matches on the international match calendar,"
he said.
"This is an insurance coverage for the players, for the
clubs and for the associations."