The LFP hosts seminar on 'Match Fixing'

The Spanish Football League (LFP) and the Association of European Professional Football Leagues (EPFL) held a seminar on 'Match Fixing' in Barcelona, in which members of the LFP, EPFL, European Commission, the ECA and FIFpro all took part.

The meeting's objective was to analyse and discuss different initiatives related to the fixing of football matches. Throughout the event, the LFP demonstrated that it is one of the most active leagues in the fight against match fixing. Javier Tebas, the president of the LFP, explained in fine detail the way that the Spanish organisation is working on the matter.

"The Spanish League is reacting quickly and firmly to the threat of Match Fixing," said Mr Tebas, adding that "although we have to educate people and we have to sign agreements with institutions, we also need to investigate and denounce individual cases". The president was categorical and stated that "the success of the education programmes will be judged in a couple of seasons, but if we don't investigate cases we won't solve the problem in the medium to long term."

Javier Tebas was adamant that education was not enough. "Learning programmes will not work on their own, we can't just sign protocols and pose for photos, we have to work on denouncing individual cases," he said, adding that match fixing "is not an isolated phenomenon that only occurs in Spanish football, it also happens in other leagues and we have to work on eradicating it." 

The Spanish director continued: "Denouncing suspected matches is a delicate and unpleasant issue, but the clubs have chosen this path, so that we know that everything that happens on the pitch is real."

The group worked on a unanimous resolution as well as a code of conduct referring to integrity. Urs Kluser, of UEFA's Office of Integrity, said: "We are doing better than five years ago and we will be doing even better in the next five years, but we are up against organised crime. The figures we have seen are astonishing." 

The second part of the day was focused on analysis of the initiatives that the leagues are proposing in order to fight against match fixing. In this respect Manuel Quintanar, the LFP's Director of Integrity, explained that the pillars of the actions the LFP are taking were "prevention and persecution". Quintanar added that the LFP has established "a channel for denouncements in order to boost collaboration, in which confidentiality and the support of the LFP is guaranteed in every single denouncement".

Manuel Quntanar signed off with a final message: "The LFP's service of integrity puts itself at the disposition of all the leagues and is grateful for all the support it has received in this matter, which is of the upmost importance."

The event finished with closing speeches from Javier Tebas, Nic Coward, the General Secretary of the Premier League, and Yves Le Lostecque, Chief of the European Commission’s Sport’s Unit, as well as representatives from the French and Austrian leagues.