AFC and IBIA unite against match-fixing in Asian football

Garance Limouzy October 7, 2024

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AFC and IBIA unite against match-fixing in Asian football

The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has taken action to improve the integrity of football in Asia by signing a four-year Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the International Betting Integrity Association (IBIA). This partnership is designed to strengthen efforts in detecting irregular betting patterns and suspicious activities related to football matches across the continent.

With this agreement, the AFC and IBIA will collaborate closely, utilising IBIA’s Monitoring and Alert Platform to share real-time data on potentially dubious betting activity. This proactive approach is expected to reinforce the AFC’s capacity to investigate and address issues related to match manipulation.

“Fair play and integrity”

Andrew Mercer, the AFC General Counsel and Director of Legal Affairs, stated, “The AFC’s Vision and Mission has outlined our steadfast ambitions to uphold the highest ethical and sporting standards, and we are committed towards preserving our key tenets of fair play and integrity.” He further noted that collaborating with leading organisations like IBIA is essential to the ongoing fight against match-fixing. “Leveraging on strong collaborations with the world’s leading organisations is imperative to our fight against match-fixing and this MoU with IBIA further strengthens our ability to ensure football in Asia remains clean for the benefit of our future generation of fans, players and all our valued stakeholders,”? Mercer added.

Cooperation

Khalid Ali, CEO of IBIA, echoed this sentiment, stressing the importance of cooperation in integrity monitoring and investigation. “Cooperation is a vital part of any effective integrity monitoring and investigatory framework, and IBIA is delighted to be able to strengthen its relationship with the AFC through this important information-sharing collaboration,” he remarked. Ali also pointed out that IBIA will play a crucial role in safeguarding the AFC ecosystem by monitoring its members’ global customer account activity, which encompasses over $300 billion in sports betting annually.

Match-fixing in Asia

In March, a study revealed a troubling increase in match-fixing across Asia. According to the report, in 2023, Asia recorded 302 suspicious matches, reflecting a rise of 60 from the previous year. While Europe had the highest total with 667 suspicious matches, the rise in match-fixing in Asia poses a significant concern, particularly in football, which has been identified as the most affected sport. Recently, the Chinese Football Association (CFA) imposed a lifetime ban on 38 players and five club officials after a two-year investigation into widespread match-fixing and illegal gambling. The investigation revealed the manipulation of 120 matches and implicated over 40 clubs.