April 6 – A Serbian referee has been handed a 15-month prison sentence and banned from officiating in his country for 10 years after awarding two highly suspicious penalties, one of which was described as “scandalous” by the local media.
March 31 – Swedish football that has been rocked by match-fixing scandal and saw criminal charges issued against five individuals last December, has moved to beef up its integrity operations via an increased betting monitoring deal with Sportradar.
March 16 – FIFA is intensifying its fight against match-fixing by linking up with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) over its Global Integrity Programme.
March 2: Starlizard Integrity Services (SIS) has agreed a new partnership with the Moldovan Football Federation (FMF) in the fight against the threat of match-fixing in Moldova.
By Paul Nicholson
February 16 – In what could be a game-changing move in the battle against match-fixing, Sportradar is to make its Universal Fraud Detection System (UFDS) available free of charge to sport organisations.
February 2 – Starlizard Integrity Services (SIS) have agreed a strategic partnership to combat match-fixing with the Slovak Football Association (SFA) beginning immediately.
January 29 – A court of appeal has acquitted Olympiakos and Nottingham Forest owner Vangelis Marinakis (pictured) and 27 others of match-fixing in a case stretching back several years.
January 6 – FIFA has joined forces with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in a new campaign encouraging the football industry to raise awareness about global match-fixing.
December 9 – Five of the 10 football clubs in the Moldovan top flight have been involved in match-fixing linked to organised crime this season, Europol has said.
By Andrew Warshaw
October 20 – Within hours of being embroiled in match-fixing scandal that has rocked his country, the vice-chairman of the Czech FA, Roman Berbr, has handed in his resignation despite having vehemently denied any involvement.
October 19 – The vice-president of the Czech Football Association has been taken into custody after becoming embroiled in a match-fixing scandal he vehemently denies.
September 29 – FIFA has handed Marco Antonio Trovato Villalba, president of the Paraguayan club Olimpia, a life-time ban from the game after finding the football official guilty of match manipulation.
September 2 – The number of betting related fixed matches saw a fractional decrease in 2020, according to the third annual Suspicious Betting Trends in Global Football Report.
August 17 – Armenian football, which has been so plagued by match-fixing that it abandoned its second tier league, has announced a new sponsorship deal with online bookmaker brand VBET, owned by BetConstruct.
By Paul Nicholson
August 7 – The involvement of organised criminal gangs (OCGs) in sports, and football in particular, is increasing in Europe and the Covid crisis has accelerated that increase, according to a new report by Europol, the European Union’s agency for law enforcement cooperation.