FIFA using informers to prevent match-fixing
Posted January 5, 2012 2:03 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
ZURICH, Switzerland — FIFA is working with informers inside organized crime syndicates to help protect the World Cup from match-fixing and betting plots.
FIFA’s security director Chris Eaton says his investigations team is “developing sources both in criminal organizations and football that will advise us.”
He tells FIFA’s website that “infiltration of serious criminals” into some of football’s 208 national associations is “the most pressing issue” to stop international matches being fixed for profit.
Eaton believes the 2014 World Cup is most at risk in qualifiers involving teams which are unlikely to reach the finals in Brazil.
FIFA will open a whistleblowers’ hotline next month offering rewards and amnesties if players, referees and officials provide information.
