SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
Sportradar Integrity Services (SIS) has teamed with the Saudi Arabian Football Federation (SAFF) in helping the organisation launch an SAFF Integrity app for its football competitions.
In a bid to combat match-fixing, several football tournaments organised by SAFF will be monitored by Sportradar’s Universal Fraud Detection System (UFDS): a bet monitoring system verified sports betting and integrity experts.
SIS Managing Director, Andreas Krannich, said: “It is an honour to partner with SAFF and as the global leader in sporting integrity, we are confident that our experience and expertise can help protect SAFF against integrity related issues.
“We look forward to working alongside them throughout the next few years and providing our support to their overall integrity programme.”
The app allows players, officials, and members of the public to report suspected match-fixing, match-manipulation and other integrity concerns to SAFF in a ‘safe and secure manner’.
SIS will also provide SAFF with an Integrity Risk Assessment to identify any potential integrity risks. The SAFF Integrity mobile app is available in both Arabic and English, and is also free of charge.
Ibrahim Alkassim, General Secretary at the SAFF, added: “Safeguarding the integrity of Saudi Arabian football is one of the biggest priorities at SAFF, and in looking to achieve this, we are delighted to be working with Sportradar Integrity Services who are the clear leaders in the particular field of sports integrity.”
“Monitoring services provided by their team of experts through the UFDS will strengthen our existing integrity measures, whilst the Education & Prevention webinars will ensure that all stakeholders are adequately and appropriately educated in how best to tackle integrity challenges.”
Furthermore, teams, players, match officials and other SAFF staff and stakeholders will also be educated on the importance of integrity via a series of webinars.
Players and officials from teams participating in the 2021/2022 Saudi Pro League were the first group to have attended the webinars, followed by SAFF staff members.
Sportradar continues to utilise its UFDS throughout the industry after forming a deal with recently launched live sport vertical, Twain Sport, earlier this week. The same system is also deployed across the likes of UEFA, the NBA and the NHL.
