LaLiga signs Manifesto Against Manipulation of results in sports competitions

LaLiga joined the other chief representatives of Spanish sport in taking a further step forwards in the eradication of match-fixing by participating in the signing of the Manifesto against the Manipulation of Sports Competitions and in support of the Council of Europe Convention. In a ceremony held at the offices of Spain’s National Sports Council (CSD), each of the country’s main sporting bodies put pen to paper on a text that will be endorsed by other EU nations next week in Luxembourg.

LaLiga president Javier Tebas, an active partner in the fight against the manipulation of results, thanked the Spanish State for embracing agreements aimed at stamping out the practice. “We agree with this Convention and with the Manifesto. This must not be limited to signatures and declarations. What we have to do is work hard. Many sports suffer from this scourge and we must fight against it,” he stated. He also underlined LaLiga’s efforts in this battle. “We at LaLiga have an Integrity Unit made up of five people dedicated to his issue. No sport is immune to it, and I call on everyone to work together in the same direction, and not only on signing manifestos without executing them,” he concluded.

Meanwhile, the president of the CSD, Miguel Cardenal, expressed his gratitude for LaLiga’s continued work against match-fixing in recent years, and highlighted the unity of sport in Spain displayed by the Manifesto. “Today you’re showing that the signing of this document is not just a bureaucratic act for our country, it’s a demonstration of the entire Spanish sporting world’s repudiation of this threat. With the work you do every day, it is you who are the chief driving force behind this Manifesto. With this endorsement I will travel to Luxembourg to sign the International Convention and continue fighting by your side against this scourge,” said Cardenal.

The Manifesto was signed by José Luis Sáez, president of the Spanish Basketball Federation, Joel González, representative of Spain’s Olympic sportsmen and women and LaLiga and CSD envoy to Brussels to study the methods of Federbet, the European federation of operators in the gambling sector aiming to fight illegal practices in sports betting, as well as representatives of the RFEF (Spanish Football Federation), AFE (Association of Spanish Footballers), COFEDE (Confederation of Spanish Sports Federations) and AFEDES (Association of Spanish Sports Federations).

This Manifesto supports the International Convention promoted by the Council of Europe, which principally serves to identify those acts that should be punished, clarify which types of conduct must be considered offences and facilitate judicial and police cooperation between the signatories, taking into account a wide range of penal, administrative and disciplinary sanctions. The objective is to establish a general legislative framework and a stable platform of cooperation to protect the integrity of sport and the rule of law.