March 17 – CONCACAF has introduced a set of Competition Integrity Measures to tackle match-fixing. They are now being conducted before every CONCACAF tournament and competition.
Titled ‘Protect Yourself and Keep Your Sport Clean’ the programme debuted at this year’s CONCACAF Women’s Under-20 Championship in the Cayman Islands and is currently being implemented in the CONCACAF Champions League. The measures have also been adopted by the Caribbean Football Union for its competitions.
“Match manipulation is a global scourge that we at CONCACAF take very seriously, and are fighting aggressively,” said CONCACAF President Jeffrey Webb. “Under the weight of initiatives such as this one, we are convinced that match fixers will now think twice before interfering in the game we all love – or else, they will face the consequences.”
The educational programme is primarily based on prevention of match fixing but carries information on how to report incidents and details of contact officials on-site.
CONCACAF Director of Sports Integrity Dr. Laila Mintas, said: “The Competition Integrity Measures are a good first step to educate all players, referees and officials that are participating in football matches. We have already extended this programme to the CFU but we will also support our Member Associations in adopting theses measures for matches organised by them. Prevention and education are the key task in the fight against match manipulation.
The Competition Integrity Measures consist in general of the following points:
* Information material about the threat of match-fixing distributed to the players, referees and officials
* Distribution of contact details of CONCACAF reporting mechanism (gro.f1751488698acacn1751488698oc@yt1751488698irget1751488698ni1751488698)
* Distribution of contact details of contact person on-site
* Integrity presentations for players, referees and officials to raise awareness and educate about their obligations; Face-to-face presentations in every Team Arrival Meeting, Referee, Match Coordination Meeting
* Integrity Declaration Form for all participants to sign (content: obligations and prohibitions)
The educational programme reinforces the regulations which outlaw betting on football matches by players and officials, and emphasises that the communication of sensitive inside information to anyone outside the club is forbidden.
“Every player and every official that is part of the football family has the responsibility to help keep football clean from any negative impact,” said Webb. “The goal of this initiative is to enlist our players, coaches and officials as allies in the fight against illicit activities.”
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