INTERPOL: Match-Fixing investigation in Austria leads to arrests, Organized Crime involved in Brazilian football

BOXSCORE | LYON (February 7, 2023) INTERPOL has released its bi-weekly "Integrity in Sport" which monitors major developments in corruption in sport around the world.



- The Austrian Bundeskriminalamt (ABK) – the Austrian Federal Police – investigation, supported by stakeholders including Sportradar, resulted in 15 match-fixers being criminally charged for manipulating football matches, particularly the Regionalliga East and other amateur competitions, and following a trial in Graz, Austria, nine individuals have now been found guilty of serious commercial fraud, causing a total damage of approx. 450,000 EUR. One individual was handed a two-year prison sentence for his involvement, while the others convicted have been handed punishments ranging from criminal fines to conditional imprisonments of various durations.

- The suspended French Rugby Federation President was questioned by France’s national prosecution office as part of the longstanding probe which has been against him over allegations of tax-related wrongdoing.

- Following a wave of sports-related scandals in France, the head of the country’s handball league stepped down after he plead guilty to charges of child corruption and child pornography.

- A professional Portuguese football player has claimed that he was approached and offered a large sum of money by a business man in an attempt to be bribed to lose a match.

- A decorated professional football player who once played for the national Russian football team is at the center of a match-fixing scandal. He was detained in Belarus on suspicious of his involvement in the investigation.

- In a joint operation with INTERPOL and Europol, and within the framework of the second phase of Operation Conifer, the Spanish National Police have arrested 23 people who have allegedly been involved in football match-fixing.



- The Global Sports Integrity Community has lost one of its visionaries. The Belgian Deputy Federal Prosecutor was the driving force behind the establishment of the MARS network (Magistrates/Prosecutors Responsible for Sport). He leaves behind a legacy built on the foundation of uniting Europe’s prosecutors and magistrates for the advancement of protecting integrity in sport. He was instrumental in key investigations such as 'Clean Hands' in Belgian Football or SKY-ECC, a major investigation that disrupted a criminal network and its use of encrypted communication.

- In Germany, a broad range of fan organisations, experts, institutions and stakeholders in addiction prevention founded an Alliance Against Sports Betting Advertisement, under the patronage of the Commisisoner of the German Federal Government for Drug and Addiction Policy.

- In February, the International Betting Integrity Association (IBIA) published its annual report on suspicious betting alerts, which highlighted the increase in number of alerts, which have been attributed to the increase in membership.

- After becoming operational at the beginning of this year, the World Aquatics’ Aquatics Integrity Unit (AQIU) officially launched its website at the end of January.

- The Starlizard Integrity Service (SIS) analyzed that there’s been a marginal increase in the number of suspicious football matches played in 2022, globally. A total of 144 football matches played around the world in 2022 were assessed as suspicious.



- In Brazil, news reports came out claiming that an organized criminal group has allegedly been approaching young players from a football league in Sao Paolo, giving them money in exchange for fixing the result of the matches.



- At a Court of Appeals in New York City, a former Nigerian national football coach lost his appeal against FIFA, where he claimed that there was insufficient evidence to support his lifetime ban for manipulating football matches.