BERNE – UEFA won significant support in its battle against match-fixing on Tuesday after the European Parliament passed a resolution calling for concerted action to stop illegal online betting, European soccer’s governing body said.
“I am delighted with this report and would like to congratulate the European Parliament for standing firmly on UEFA’s side and against the criminal powers that orchestrate match-fixing in Europe,” UEFA president Michel Platini said in a statement.
“Through working together we can put a stop to the biggest threat facing the future of sport in Europe.”
UEFA said that Tuesday’s vote during a European Parliament plenary session in Strasbourg had added “a significant voice” to its efforts to fight match-fixing, which is blamed largely on illegal gambling rings.
Both UEFA and soccer’s world governing body FIFA have said that they need government help to combat match-fixing which police officials have described as a low-risk, high-profit form of crime.
FIFA officials have said that criminal organizations have infiltrated the sport and have gone as far as buying clubs in some countries and setting up refereeing training camps as a way of helping them controlling the results of matches.
UEFA said that Tuesday’s resolution called for measures to protect the integrity of sport through cross-border co-operation between sports organisations and public authorities.
MEPS also recommended that betting fraud be penalized as a criminal offense throughout Europe and called for sports organisations’ property rights over their competitions to be recognized by betting companies.
“Ultimately this property right ensures cooperation between sport organizers and betting companies, which leads to more transparency, better monitoring and control mechanisms, and can help to fight money laundering through betting,” said UEFA.
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