Starlizard and Moldovan FA recommit in battle against match-fixing

March 22 – The Moldovan Football Federation (FMF) have renewed their partnership with Starlizard Integrity Services (SIS) in their battle against match-fixing which last year saw top tier club FC Floresti has been sanctioned with relegation from the National Division.

The new 12-month term will see SIS will continue to provide a dedicated alert service to the FМF free of charge. The monitoring service notifies the governing body of suspicious betting patterns or questionable performances by teams or players. SIS will also be on hand to investigate specific allegations of match-manipulation in Moldova, working closely with the FMF on any such investigations.

Affy Sheikh, Head of Starlizard Integrity Services, said: “The FMF are committed to safeguarding the integrity of Moldovan football and we are privileged to be supporting them again in this endeavour. It is another example of our successful working relationships with sports governing bodies around the world, where we provide our monitoring, analysis and alert services free of charge as part of our own commitment to ridding football and sport in general of match manipulation.”

The sanction delivered to FC Floresti by the Moldovan Football Federation’s (FMF) ethics committee followed an investigation into reports of suspicious betting patterns in FC Floresti matches in February, March, April and July 2021 – with eight matches highlighted.

FC Floresti are being allowed to complete their fixtures in the eight-team division but their results will not count towards the final table and next season they will play in the second tier Division A in Moldova.

Evgheni Zubic, FMF’s Integrity Officer, said: ” We have already benefited enormously from Starlizard’s deep understanding of betting markets and their expertise in identifying both suspicious betting patterns and team or player behaviour. The renewal of the agreement with SIS will enable us to build on our successful collaboration and further strengthen our efforts to keep Moldovan football clean.”

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