Integrity task force concludes with no cases of manipulation

The FIFA integrity task force, which was set up to monitor this summer’s Women’s World Cup, has concluded there was no suspicion of match manipulation at the tournament. 

The task force was formed to support FIFA in addressing any integrity-related concerns and has been deemed a success despite betting turnover during the competition being found to be an estimated 14 times higher than at the previous Women’s World Cup. 

FIFA teamed up with the six footballing confederations and integrity stakeholders such as Sportradar and Interpol to organise workshops for the 24 World Cup participating member associations (PMA), with the aim of providing an education in how to prevent situations that could have affected the integrity of the tournament.

Vincent Ven, FIFA’s Head of Integrity, commented: “As part of the steps taken, education, monitoring and sharing best practice all played an important role in the integrity programme delivered around the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2019. These principles are key to proactively ensuring that any potentially suspicious activity or attempt to manipulate a match is detected and averted and that any appropriate steps can be taken by FIFA and the relevant authorities.”

Moreover, during the competition, both the in-game action and betting markets were analysed, with all PMA integrity offices holding briefings with their respective national sides and delegations. 

Football’s governing body also took part in the eighth meeting Council of Europe’s Group of Copenhagen, the Network of National Platforms for Combating Sports Manipulation, while continuing to implement measures put in place during the 2018 World Cup in Russia by delivering briefings to referees.

Discussing the plans regarding integrity in future FIFA tournaments, Ven concluded: “Going forward, FIFA will look to build on the collaboration and integrity programme delivered for the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2019 for future FIFA tournaments. We will also look to continue our work with confederations, member associations and all the other integrity stakeholders to share best practice and protect competitions taking place in the future.”