Match fixing moet tegengegaan worden (en)

On 13th-14th October in Cracow, the most important event of the Polish Presidency as regards sport took place - an informal meeting of EU Sports Ministers.

The main priority of the Polish Presidency as regards sport is to combat threats to sporting competition. The most serious of these is match-fixing. This practice harms the image of a fair and unpredictable sporting competition. In reality, the problem affects each country and each sport, although it is particularly associated with football.

For this reason, the Polish Presidency decided to adopt this issue as one of its priorities.

Already in July, Poland started a dialogue with all stakeholders, including other MemberStates, the Council of Europe, the sports movement and the betting sector.

This issue was also undertaken by the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers, who a few days ago adopted a recommendation on the protection of the integrity of sport from manipulation of sporting results, especially match-fixing.

A number of actions have been taken as well by the European Commission, headed by the Green Paper on on-line gambling and in two communications:

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  dedicated to developing the European dimension in sport, and
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  EU policy against corruption.

Also, the sporting movement and the betting sector joined the fight against fixing sporting results. The International Olympic Committee held a special working group dealing with illegal sports betting.

This theme was also discussed at the meeting of the Council Working Party on Sport on 21 September, when a debate on the problem of match-fixing in sport and future possible actions took place.

The next important step was taken by the Presidency on 5th October, where a seminar addressed primarily to the sports movement was organised in the European Parliament.

As a result of these consultations, the Polish Presidency has identified four potential areas for EU action in the fight against match-fixing:

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  given the scale of the phenomenon in Europe, it is necessary for the EU to take concrete measures. The EU should begin by sending out a clear political message expressly declaring that it condemns this practice and intends to combat it.
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  for proper and effective combating of match-fixing there must be a proper legal framework in Member States, allowing the prosecution and punishment of people involved in this practice. The legal systems of EU Member States should introduce the crime of corruption in sport.
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  effective action against match-fixing requiresclose inter-disciplinary and international cooperation among all interested parties.
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  an extremely important role in the struggle with match-fixing will be played by preventative measures. Educating competitors in this regard is an important element of this.

Good sports management practices can also play a role. Good management standards make it harder for crime to take root.

The Presidency's objective is the adoption of conclusions on the fight against match-fixing by the EU Council. This document will eventually be worked out during the meetings of the Working Party on Sport and most likely adopted at a meeting of the EU Council for Education, Youth, Culture and Sport in November 2011.

Jakub Kwiatkowski, Spokesperson for the Polish Presidency atthe Ministry of Sport and Tourism