Football: FIFA calls for strict match-fixing laws

KUALA LUMPUR: Football authorities vowed yesterday to excise the ‘cancer’ of match-fixing but said tougher laws were needed worldwide to smash criminal syndicates suspected of rigging hundreds of matches.

Fifa’s director of security Ralf Mutschke told a two-day gathering with Interpol that the world governing body’s ‘zero tolerance’ for match-fixing must be buttressed by ‘the right policies for law enforcement and the football community’.

The meeting follows revelations a fortnight ago that almost 700 matches worldwide, including Champions League ties and World Cup qualifiers, were targeted by gambling gangs.

“We are banning players and referees for life but criminals are out there free — they get no sentence. That’s wrong,” Mutschke told reporters. “We have to bring in governments to change legislation and laws. Many countries do not have laws to fight match manipulation.”

Published in The Express Tribune, February 21^st, 2013.