UEFA discusses key initiatives for maintaining sports integrity

What is the current status of sports competition manipulation (match-fixing) worldwide?

It is no secret that match-fixing constitutes a serious threat to the integrity of sport, necessitating constant vigilance and strong collaboration by all stakeholders, including sports bodies, state authorities and betting entities.

While we have made significant progress over the past decade, especially in raising awareness, educating participants and improving detection capabilities, coordinated action and the continuous development of monitoring tools remain essential. Indeed, criminal syndicates and match-fixers are still very active and have proven adaptable, innovating new methods to evade detection and expand their competition manipulation activities across borders. Also, the growing appetite for betting on sport combined with the increasing exposure of competitions – powered by modern technology – comes with side effects.

While competition manipulation, especially at national level, is far from having been eradicated, a strong network of experts and multi‑sector partners has developed over the past two decades. Prevention programs have become systematic in the last ten years, a growing number of training programs are offered and academic research is on the rise. Working on all these fronts simultaneously strengthens the fight against match‑fixing. Moreover, thanks to the Council of Europe convention on competition manipulation (the Macolin Convention), a united community has arisen and keeps on expanding, including beyond Europe. The number of countries that have ratified the convention has doubled over the last two years, which demonstrates the increasing awareness of the problem and commitment of public authorities worldwide.

How does UEFA tackle these issues?

UEFA has always striven to be at the vanguard of the fight against match-fixing, as safeguarding the integrity of European football is one of its statutory objectives. UEFA’s strategy has historically been based on a strong network of integrity officers within its 55 member associations. Furthermore, in 2021, following an independent study, UEFA drastically increased the resources allocated to tackling match-fixing, increasing support for the integrity officers, introducing innovative first-in-sport integrity initiatives and implementing a comprehensive action plan to develop UEFA’s internal capabilities. This ambitious plan, reasserted in 2024, focuses on:

• Strengthening cooperation with international and local authorities;
• Increasing expertise and support for key experts and organizations fighting match-fixing nationally and internationally;
• Enhancing education, awareness and training efforts;
• Leveraging technology to signpost potential concerns and facilitate investigation and analysis;
• Expanding UEFA’s internal team of skilled staff devoted to anti-match-fixing.

One standout initiative is the Fight the Fix program, launched in 2022, and taking place every two years. Recognizing the need for advanced anti-match-fixing training, UEFA, together with the UEFA Academy partnered with the University of Lausanne’s School of Criminal Justice to develop this unique and popular educational programme. UEFA is grateful to United Lotteries for Integrity in Sport (ULIS) and other partners, whose contributions have helped make the program such a success.  

In what way does ULIS differ from other sports monitoring bodies?

With its history, global reach, and privileged relationship with national lotteries, ULIS stands out as a vital integrity partner for UEFA. Looking back, UEFA started to cooperate with the lottery sector to tackle the risks of competition manipulation as early as 2005, when the European Lotteries Monitoring System was launched. Then, in 2015, it was rolled out across the world, becoming the Global Lotteries Monitoring System (GLMS, now ULIS). ULIS is an indispensable partner for detection and intelligence support. The operational arrangement signed with UEFA in 2023 has set solid foundations for a procedural approach, working methods and a structured two-way exchange of information.

ULIS is unique thanks to its global network of national lotteries supported by regional operational hubs, which monitor betting activity across diverse jurisdictions and time zones. In addition, ULIS members are major betting service operators with a historical presence and a significant consumer base in their respective countries, so they have extensive knowledge of national betting habits and trends. Because the members are not competitors, they can collaborate and trust one another. They are driven by a sense of social responsibility and public accountability.

Why does UEFA collaborate with ULIS?

First, UEFA recognizes that lotteries have always been key contributors to the development of sport at a national level, particularly by supporting grassroots sport and standing as a natural, valuable partner. The challenges and risks posed by the expansion of online sports betting have made it necessary to cooperate even more closely in order to protect our respective interests and uphold the integrity of the sport.

In this context, it was a natural decision for UEFA to partner with ULIS – a collaboration formalized in 2023 with the signature of an agreement to strengthen the joint effort to combat match-fixing. This fruitful collaboration gives UEFA access to a global network of national lotteries that monitor betting activity with a high level of transparency and accountability. The operational arrangement is essential to benefit from real-time intelligence and analytical reports on suspicious betting patterns. The partnership also ensures that UEFA receives high-quality and independent insights from a trusted source in order to review any integrity concerns.

It is in no way a one-way street as UEFA is fully committed to supporting ULIS and its members through active, regular collaboration, helping to shape best practices and bringing UEFA’s unique expertise in sporting integrity to the table. It is a genuine and valuable collaboration based on trust.

What more could ULIS do to support its members and partners?

ULIS already does a lot, and in recent years has made great strides in supporting its members, UEFA and other partners through its structured and professional reporting procedures, enhanced analytical support and global reach thanks to the development of continental operational hubs. These advances have significantly strengthened its role as a reliable and trusted integrity partner. Advocacy and policy development, alongside Council of Europe initiatives, are also import aspects of its work. Moving forward, the focus should remain on sustaining ULIS’s high standards and its commitment to integrity for the benefit of all ULIS members and partners, as well as investing time and effort in finding ways to give sports governing bodies access to even more data, which is crucial to support investigations.

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