Match-fixing presents a major threat to the integrity of sporting events.
Match-fixing is an international phenomenon with sportspeople subject to financial temptations and pressure to influence sporting objectives and outcomes. Often, match-fixing is linked to gambling, with criminal networks exploiting unregulated gambling markets.
The European Commission takes an active role in combatting match-fixing. This is part of wider efforts to ensure competitive sports remain fair.
By co-ordinating related EU legislation and through cooperation with key international bodies, the Commission works at the European and global levels to ensure the reputation of sports teams, organisations and events are not compromised.
EU initiatives against match-fixing
The Council of Europe Convention on the Manipulation of Sports Competitions (“Macolin” Convention) is a key political framework for collaboration on the match-fixing issue.
Open to EU Institutions and Member States, so far, the Convention has been ratified by three Member States, Greece, Italy & Portugal.
The Commission supports actions to fight against match-fixing and has also drafted policy documents.
- In its Communication on sport, the Commission notes that match-fixing has a significant impact on the perceived integrity of sporting teams and events.
- To improve its knowledge of how national criminal law provisions apply to match-fixing, a mapping study of criminal law provisions in EU Member States was completed. It continues to supplement policy debate on the issue.
- The Green Paper on Online Gambling led to the adoption of the Communication “Towards a comprehensive European framework on online gambling”. This identifies match-fixing as one-of-five priorities for addressing the challenges facing the integrity of sport. Further to this, two studies on betting-related match-fixing were then completed.
- In order to better coordinate anti- match-fixing policies and actions across Member States, the EC Directorates-General for Migration and Home Affairs (DG HOME), and Growth and Internal Market (DG GROW), launched a call for the pilot project "New integrated mechanisms for cooperation between public and private actors".
- Through its sport actions, the Erasmus+ programme (2021-2027) combats match-fixing.