Javier Tebas: "LaLiga leads the war on match-fixing. It's the biggest threat to sport"

LaLiga, true to its objective of combating fraud within sport, took part in Friday morning's debate titled 'Match-fixing and illegal betting: the need for a European response.' LaLiga president, Javier Tebas attended the talks inside the European Parliament's offices in Barcelona, where he exchanged ideas on the problem with Rodrigo Arias, the Integrity Manager at FIFA's Security Division, Mike O'Kane, the Chairman of the European Sport Security Association (ESSA), and Santiago Fisas, MEP and co-president of the European Parliament's Sports Intergroup.

FIFA's Rodrigo Arias, who opened the talks, said it was a global problem, and therefore it is important to raise awareness. "We've been made aware of incidents related to match-fixing at more than 150 associations," he explained; "match fixers seek out anyone related to the world of football. They are taken in by these crime syndicates and convinced that it is an easy way to make money. FIFA's initiative advocates prevention, detection, data gathering, investigations and sanctions."

In his first speech, Javier Tebas said that "LaLiga had led the war on football and sports corruption for years. We're aware that it’s a serious problem on a global scale. Football match-fixing is no longer limited to just results. There is now a tendency to fix other aspects of the game, like the number of corners, something which we in LaLiga have reported. Match-fixing is the biggest threat to world sport."

"There is now a certain political awareness of this matter. We found it extremely difficult, but in 2010 we pushed through legal reforms which made match fixing a criminal offence. Since then, nobody has gone to prison, which means that something isn't quite working," said the LaLiga president.

As a member of the European Parliament, Santiago Fisas stated that "we are facing a cancer for sport which places its continuance at risk. If sports competitions have no credibility, we can't instil sporting values in anyone. We must react to prevent it from the European institutions."

Javier Tebas explained to those present the work carried out by LaLiga's Integrity Department headed by Alfredo Lorenzo, LaLiga's director of integrity and security. "There will always be people who try to predetermine results, which is why LaLiga is working on reducing this risk through internal regulations, prevention plans, etc. The Integrity Department is in contact with a company which monitors betting and issues alerts. We investigate the smallest of rumours. In the department we also have an intelligence unit composed of two professional bettors who have infiltrated the information networks of the betting world," added Tebas.

"In professional football, we have things fairly well controlled, but we're not settling for that because sport remains under threat from other levels. We give the players who come up from Segunda Division B to professional football specific training because we know that this threat is very prevalent at those levels. We want football professionals to be aware of what can happen if they participate in these networks. Furthermore, we visit all of the clubs to give training workshops at all levels, thereby reducing the danger," assured the president of LaLiga.

Meanwhile, Mike O'Kane (ESSA) said in defence of the betting industry that "sport must understand that the problem of match-fixing is a problem with the institutions themselves and the weakness of their investigation methods. We have to stop blaming our own problems on the betting industry."

Javier Tebas assured that the greatest victims of this scourge on sport are "the spectators, the fans and the clubs that are relegated after suffering a fixed match. Manipulating results is the worst crime which can exist in the sporting arena."

During the debate, the controversy which has arisen regarding the responsibility held by legal and illegal bookmakers in match-fixing was also discussed. LaLiga warned that it is not possible to simply accuse illegal bookmakers located in India or China, with the problem rather being one which exists at the "source", which lies in the European realm. "We can't sidestep the problem by saying it is a long way away. It's true that the problem also exists in other countries, but the root of it is here. If the results are not manipulated at the source, it doesn't matter what happens at the destination," he assured.

Once again, LaLiga is demonstrating its determination to continue taking steps forward as it leads the fight against fraud in sport in general, not just in football. The values championed by Spanish professional football transcend the type of ball which is played with, and as such LaLiga will continue working to safeguard the purity of all competitions.