December 1 – UEFA joined forces with the Hellenic Football Federation (HFF), the Council of Europe, the International Olympic Committee, Interpol and the Greek National Platform for Sport Integrity (EPATHLA) for a series of meetings and workshops – tagged Sport Integrity Week – that focused on fighting match-fixing.
The regional workshops are a new initiative introduced by UEFA in 2023 with the Greece meeting being the third after similar forums in Kosovo and Lithuania.
Participants include football integrity officers, representatives of the legal departments and the competent judicial bodies of football associations, law enforcement representatives and prosecutors, alongside representatives from national Olympic committees, national platforms and government ministries.
Delegates came from delegates from Azerbaijan, Cyprus, Georgia, Greece, Israel, Malta, Romania and Turkey.
Angelo Rigopoulos, UEFA’s managing director of integrity and regulatory, said: “We are very proud to be co-organisers of this rare opportunity to bring together such a wide variety of key stakeholders. Between sports bodies, integrity officers, national platforms, law enforcement agencies and prosecutors, we identify common challenges, share intelligence, and discuss how to combat evolving threats to sporting integrity.”
Attendees were able to exchange anti-match-fixing best practices, receive updates on the current situation in each country, learn about recent trends and cases from dedicated expert speakers, and participate in practical exercises.
Sophie Kwasny, head of the sport division at the Council of Europe, emhasised that protecting sport’s integrity is tantamount to preserving its future: “For sport to continue to bring joy, passion and educational values, people need to trust it. Combating match-fixing is central to that trust, and sport can only do that by working with police, regulators, and public authorities at both national and international levels.”
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