Sports betting and corruption: How to preserve the - SportAccord

Sports betting and corruption: How to preserve the integrity of sport
a position to qualify. In fact, there was only a very slim chance of its being able to win all three
preliminary rounds, particularly because in the second and third rounds, it would have had to play
against major European clubs. So why not abandon the competition at the outset and take advantage of
these hundreds of thousands of euro that would put the club in a solid financial position for a large part
of the season? All the more so as in some Eastern European countries, the preliminary rounds of
European cups offer better odds than national matches, which are considered by betting operators to be
too corrupt 38 . Rigging European matches also nets much more for those involved.
Two factors favour this type of behaviour on the part of some clubs: on the one hand the particularly
difficult financial situation in some sporting environments, on the other, the organisational system of
clubs.
The precarious nature of European football can assume a number of forms. Firstly, in the continent s
most prestigious leagues, such as in Spain or Italy, the richest clubs can get into a spiral of debt that
can progressively weaken their position. In order to attract the best players, these clubs offer very high
salaries and thus help to bid up transfer amounts, sometimes spending more than they have. Some
clubs can then find themselves unable to pay their players, as was the case in Spain in 2011. The
excessive indebtedness of clubs is a primary reason for their financial fragility, as highlighted by
sports economist Bastien Drut 39 . The Chairman of UEFA, Michel Platini, stressed this risk recently
when referring to repeated scandals relating to arranged matches and strikes in Spain and Italy: “If
players are not paid, there is a major risk of their being influenced by ‘arrangers’ “ 40 .
But the most precarious financial situations are to be found primarily in the lower leagues of the
leading championships, as well as those of Eastern Europe and the Balkan States.
Aleksei Matveev, a Russian sports journalist since 1980, has written a book entitled “Fix: How they
buy and sell matches in Russian football” (EKSMO, 2009) in which he explains that 80% of Russia s
professional clubs are in deficit, therefore obliging the management to resort to tricks to try to fill the
coffers. The situation is similar in Albania, where many clubs are unable to pay their players salaries.
Chairmen are also suffering from a lack of sponsors and spectators / viewers, a situation that can be
explained by the game s total loss of credibility due to widespread corruption. Albanian clubs are partowned
by municipalities, which invest very little in infrastructure and clubs. Thus, Dinamo Tirana,
which is one of the country s most successful clubs and was National Champion in 2010, had a
catastrophic season in 2010-2011, with numerous salaries unpaid. As the chairman could no longer
afford to cover the club s costs, he could have asked his players to pay themselves by rigging
matches 41 . At the end of the season the chairman left the club, leaving it without management. The
club no longer owns its own training pitch, which it is obliged to rent. Its headquarters is neglected and
the club s youth trainer has had to build up a team for the championship. The example of Dinamo
Tirana is fairly representative of the precarious nature of the organisational system of some European
football clubs.
38 Interview with an employee of an Albanian betting operator, Tirana, 27 June 2011
39 Bastien Drut, Economie du Football Professionnel, Collection Reperes, Editions la Decouvertes, April 2011, pages 100 et
sec.
40 The Guardian, 28 August 2011
41 Interview with a retired Albanian footballer, Tirana, 27 June 2011.
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