More than 250 European football clubs deemed friendlies showed signs of suspicious activity between 2016 and 2020, based on a three-year study financed by the European Commission’s Erasmus program. Part of the study included a survey of 700 players in Cyprus, Greece, and Malta. More than 26 percent played in a club friendly they suspected had been tinkered with.
Football friendly matches are wide open for match-fixing due to a lack of regulation, with more than 250 friendlies involving European clubs showing signs of suspicious activity from 2016 to 2020, according to a three-year study funded by the European Commission’s Erasmus program and led by the University of Nicosia Research Foundation.
A survey carried out as part of the study found that of 700 players in Cyprus, Greece, and Malta, more than a quarter (26.5 per cent) had played in a club friendly they suspected had been manipulated. Some 26 percent of those asked to fix a friendly match were instituted by club officials and 15 percent by other players.
The study also revealed that various stakeholders were slow to figure out who was responsible, especially when teams from different countries played in a third country.
A lack of regulations, plus availability of small friendly games on betting markets in poorly regulated operators in locations like Curaçao and the Philippines, presents a greater risk of match-fixers, the study said.
Unlike competitive matches covered by agreements between data companies and competition organizers, friendlies are a free-for-all.
“The combination of a lack of regulation, oversight and information makes these matches easier to manipulate than competitive matches,” said the lead researcher of the study, Professor Nicos Kartakoullis, president of the council of the University of Nicosia.
This research shows that in terms of governance, friendly matches need to be considered just like competitive matches. “With the data for 4,000 friendly matches being offered for betting purposes around the world each year, it is also vital that the betting companies receiving that data are operating from well-regulated jurisdictions and report suspicious betting to protect the integrity of those events.”
