LaLiga takes part in integrity seminar organised by Japanese league in Tokyo

Alfredo Lorenzo, LaLiga's director of integrity and security, and Esperanza Bernal-Quiros, LaLiga's head of compliance, participated in an integrity seminar organised by the J-League, the Japan Football Association (JFA) and the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology on Wednesday. Representatives from the Asian country's police force and government were also involved.

Lorenzo delivered a presentation during which he outlined the evolution of LaLiga's integrity efforts and highlighted the Spanish institution's commitment to cleaning up football. He also offered his insight on the current state of play in football and sport in general with regard to corruption, match-fixing and illegal betting. "LaLiga's work hinges on an understanding of what exactly constitutes sporting manipulation, the different forms it can take and how to identify when a sporting event could be affected by it," explained the integrity and security director. Lorenzo went on to run through some of the most significant cases of match-fixing in the international arena and shone the spotlight on the measures that LaLiga applies to protect the integrity of its competitions.

Bernal-Quiros, for her part, focused her address on the role played by the legislative context, both nationally and internationally speaking, in informing the actions that LaLiga carries out. Esperanza stressed the importance of "sporting organisations always acting according to the law, their principles and ethical values" in their operations and added that "only in that way will they boost the value of their brands and improve football's image." She also detailed the actions that must be taken by LaLiga's clubs and public limited sports companies (SAD) in order to meet the requirements of professional football's new compliance culture.

During their talks, Lorenzo and Bernal-Quiros both sounded a note of gratitude – on behalf of LaLiga and its president Javier Tebas – "to Japanese football for its show of confidence in LaLiga as a global benchmark in the field of integrity and compliance."