Swedish sports regulatory bodies have agreed to form a new anti-corruption programme promoting internal cooperation to aid investigative work into match-fixing and further threats.
The development of the programme will be led by Riksidrottsförbundet (RF)– Sweden’s Sports Confederation tasked with developing protective measures to safeguard the country’s pro-sports against match-fixing threats and corruption.
“The inquiry’s proposal means greater opportunities for sports to work with the issue, but also means higher demands on us to be able to handle it. With the establishment of the programs and the work based on these, the special sports federations are preparing to meet those requirements,” says Jakob Uddeholt, coordinator for match-fixing, the Swedish Sports Confederation.
RF’s new directive has been supported by the governing bodies of Sweden’s ski basketball, tennis, volleyball, table tennis and Ice hockey associations/federations.
Though the majority of Swedish pro-sports are protected by individual anti-match-fixing programmes, the framework supporters stated that the national sporting scene required a collaborative framework for preventative work and to support ongoing match-fixing investigations.
Taking on its remit, RF stated that it would develop a new unified education programme, to teach athletes on the threats posed by match-fixing and illegal betting.
Furthermore, the confederation promises to establish a central platform for Swedish governing bodies to exchange data, knowledge and best practices in order to maintain sporting integrity.
