INTERPOL Integrity in Sport Bi-Weekly Bulletin - 6 February - 19 February 2018

This February, as the world focuses its attention on the achievements of athletes at the Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, thousands of police officers are working to keep the event safe and free from the influence of criminals. INTERPOL has a number of teams dedicated to the Olympics, including INTERPOL’s Major Event Support Team (IMEST) who works in close cooperation with the National Central Bureau in Seoul to facilitate the exchange of police information with our 192 member countries. In addition, INTERPOL’s Project Stadia is conducting an observation programme on security arrangements in PyeongChang, including counterterrorism and cybersecurity measures.

In particular, INTERPOL’s Match-Fixing Task Force (IMFTF), a global network of more than 80 specialists, is on the lookout for any attempts to manipulate the outcomes of Olympic competitions. INTERPOL General Secretariat officers were at the International Olympic Committee (IOC)’s headquarters in Lausanne last week to observe the live sports betting monitoring system put in place for the ongoing Winter Olympic Games and discuss operational cooperation between the IOC and IMFTF.

The IOC signed agreements with ESSA (Sports Betting Integrity) and the Global Lottery Monitoring System (GLMS) with the objective to detect and prevent any risk of manipulation of competition at the Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018.

Over the past two weeks, Europe has been active in terms of investigations. In France, a six-month police investigation led to the arrest of a young man who attempted to bribe twice a young French tennis player for betting purposes. In the United Kingdom, Manchester United midfielder is set to face trial with 33 other players over a suspect May 2011 match between Real Zaragoza and Levante. In Malta, a judge declared the two former members of the Under-21 Maltese national football team as guilty of match-fixing.

In Italy, the police arrested the head of a top amateur cycling team and several associates suspected of giving cyclists performance enhancing-drugs. Also in terms of doping, the Russian curler Alexander Krushelnitsky has been formally charged with a doping offence by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) after testing positive for the banned substance meldonium. The drug, which was banned in 2016, led to Russian tennis player and former world No. 1 Maria Sharapova being barred from competition for 15 months.

In terms of good practices, the European Handball Federation (EHF) extended its partnership with Sportradar to provide additional services aimed at safeguarding the integrity of competitions. Also, the Bulgarian Football Union (BFU) sat alongside Sportradar at a press conference to outline its ambitious plan of safeguarding sport against both betting-related match-fixing and corruption.

Monday, 19 February 2018