Match Fixing and Money Laundering in EPL?

The English football season has just commenced. Is it Manchester City, Manchester United or Liverpool that will be the new champions?

Football is the most targeted and manipulated sport by international organised crime groups. Why? Because of its popularity, financial dimension and a large betting market. The size of the global betting market is estimated at €1.7 trillion with football accounting for €895 million.

Source: https://www.nst.com.my

Europol warned that South-East Asian, and particularly Chinese, networks were trying to acquire smaller football clubs in financial difficulty for the purpose of sport manipulation.

Europol said the more ‘professional’ method used by certain crime groups was to buy a club, or sponsor it to an extent of gaining effective control over the team. The targeted club is bought for the sole purpose of fixing matches and to launder money.

This is an increasing trend especially in football, where clubs of lower divisions, sometimes beset by heavy financial problems, are taken over by foreign individuals and companies.

It is commonly observed, according to Europol, that the new investors of a club will transfer specifically selected foreign players in the targeted teams and use them to execute match-fixing schemes. They also said the current intelligence picture indicates the existence of indigenous crime groups that originate from, and operate in the EU, in addition to other international organisations from Asia, Russian-speaking countries and Armenia.

The legal structures are most often players’ agent companies, organisers of sporting events, gambling-related companies, or even football clubs that are partially or fully owned by top individuals involved in sports corruption, Europol warned.

The criminal structures are multi-layered with the financers sitting at the top of the pyramid that also includes intermediaries at national and local level. At the bottom of the structure are the players, referees and officials, who are paid off to fix matches.

Al Jazeera in an investigative report, released on August 10, 2021 confirmed the same. Offshore trusts and dirty tricks are used to deceive the football authorities. It is a malaise that is in the EPL as much as it is in Malaysia Super League. The problem is also in FIFA, although that was a few years ago. There must be ways to tackle this disease, otherwise fans, clubs and players will lose heart and “walk away”. 

An independent agency could be established to “hear” allegations of match fixing, has the authority to investigate and able to monitor matches where performance of players/clubs “yo-yo” – win, lose, win and lose – may warrant further investigation. Then, credibility is restored in the system. Otherwise, a slow and sure decline in interest will follow.

References:

Football is money laundering paradise for organised crime groups (www.maltatoday.com.mt)

Al Jazeera exposes “money laundering” in English football clubs, FMT Reporters, August 10, 2021 (www.freemalaysiatoday.com)