Match-Fixing: the Culprit of the Loss of Integrity in Italy’s Football Leagues

Roxanne
Teacher: Dee
Submission Date: 31/08/2015
Abstract

The purpose of this report is to reveal that match-fixing has occurred in Italy over the past decade and to explain whether the measures taken by Italian government reduce football corruption. Resulting from high profitability and domestic-owned football structure, match-fixing has become an enormous problem. This report also demonstrates two match-fixing scandals in 2006 and 2011, which mechanisms are pursuing sportive and economic results, respectively. According to the European code of conduct, the manipulation of match-fixing is unethical. To protect the integrity of the sport, the Italian government punish the perpetrators heavily and investigate the criminal organisations privately. Owing to this contribution, corruption decreases significantly. Therefore, a conclusion that under the government’s help, Italy football matches achieve its integrity can be made. It is recommended that by increasing the punishment level for the perpetrators, educating football players and founding a well-sourced security department, match-fixing can be tackled.

Table of contents

Contents Abstract i Table of contents ii 1.0 Introduction 1 2.0 Discussion 1 2.1 Background Information 1 2.2 Comparison with the Code of Conduct 2 2.3 Measures Taken to Tackle Corruption 2 3.0 Conclusion 3 4.0 Recommendations 4 References 5

1.0 Introduction

This report aims to reveal the Italy’s manipulation of football matches and to assess the measures taken by the Italian government. The code of conduct, the efforts made by the government and the effectiveness of the measures will be discussed.
Over the past decade, match-fixing has become a recurring problem. The criminal system is so complicated that many people are involved in this malpractice. The exposure of two match-fixing scandals in 2006 and 2011 which aim to achieve a good sportive and economic result destroys the integrity of sport ulteriorly.
The limitation of this report is that the corruption point in figure two only refers to Serie B while Serie A also need to be taken into account.

2.0 Discussion

2.1 Background Information

During the last decade, match-fixing has become a huge problem in Italy. According to Graham Brooks (Brooks, Aleem, & Button, 2013), athletes, referees, club officials and sports organisations can manipulate football matches. Resulting from the growth of football gambling market, criminal organisations have more opportunities to manipulate football leagues for two reasons (Van Rompuy, 2015). Firstly, these organisations committed the crime for substantial profitability. Moreover, the Italian football structure, which football clubs are organised domestically, also need to be considered (Brooks, Aleem, & Button, 2013).

Figure 1 Number of likely manipulated matches (level of competition)
(Brooks, Aleem, & Button, 2013)

Figure one shows the percentage of the likely manipulated matches in domestic, international and national matches. It can be seen from the chart that a large percentage (88%) of the potential football fraud occurs in domestic competitions than other matches.
In 2006 and 2011, two match-fixing scandals were exposed, which were regarded as Calciopoli and Scommessopoli (Callow, 2011). In May 2006, the exposed conversations suggest that Luciano Moggi, the general manager of Juventus, tried to influence referees’ decision making to help Juventus obtain a good sport result (Brooks, Aleem, & Button, 2013). In June 2011, the investigators found that several former Italian football players were involved in match-fixing associated with illegal betting (Minj, 2012). This episode, which is also known as Scommessopoli, indicates that corruption help people obtain high economic returns.

2.2 Comparison with the Code of Conduct

By demonstrating the code of conduct in Europe with respect to sports, people can have a deeper insight of the issues. According to the International Centre for Sport Centre (2014), athletes should try their best to achieve excellence. Competition emerges for the sake of helping athletes proceed to a high level. However, some athletes pursue the alleged “excellence” unscrupulously by losing the matches deliberately to obtain a substantial income. It is also brought out by the ICSS (2014) that individuals and groups ought to search for equity. In other words, each person has the equal chance to win the matches with his efforts. Moreover, the ICSS (2014) reveals another code of ethics, which is that sports workers should learn to respect common rules. The behaviour of conspiring to referees should be condemned for breaking the rules.

2.3 Measures Taken to Tackle Corruption

For cleaning up match-fixing, the Italian government takes some actions to find out and punish the perpetrators. The first action is that the government imposes fines on the football clubs once their malpractices are discovered. For example, Siena was fined €70,000 over the past decade (Chase, 2015). Chase (2015) also points out that point deduction is also an effective way to punish the perpetrators. In addition, many clubs and players are drawn into the investigation by police since 2011, and many perpetrators were arrested. (Johnston , 2012).
In the past three years, football corruption decreases significantly:

Figure 2 Corruption in Serie B over time
(Chase, 2015)
Figure two shows us the level of corruption in Serie B over the past eleven years. As can be seen from the graph, after 2012, there is a significant drop-off from 0.4 to 0.1 point. It seems that increased scrutiny results in less football fraud. Therefore, the data prove that actions taken by the Italian government are achievable.

3.0 Conclusion

To sum up, because of high profitability and the domestic football structure, match-fixing has become an issue in Italy. Although the purpose of football fraud varies, this malpractice violates the European common code of conduct, which demonstrates that individuals and groups should achieve excellence, equity and should abide by the rules. In order to prevent further deterioration, the Italian government has taken some effective actions to tackle this issue. After discussing these points, the purpose of this report, which aims to reveal that Italy reduces football corruption gradually with the help of the government, can be better understood. The Italian government achieved its goal by imposing fines, deducting points and investigating suspected perpetrators. The decrease in football corruption since 2011 proves that the measures taken are effective.

4.0 Recommendations

Preventing match-fixing holds a significant meaning as it destroys the integrity of sports and ruins the career of the involved football players. Therefore, individuals and groups should avoid the occurrence of match-fixing by: * increasing the punishment level for the perpetrators, such as charging a huge amount of fines and stripping players of their matches accreditation. * educating football players so that they can realise breaking the common rules will ruin their prospects. * establishing a well-resourced security department in order to collect accurate information about the criminal organisations.

(1098 words)
References
Brooks, G., Aleem, A., & Button, M. (2013). Fraud, Corruption and Sport. Palgrave Macmillan . Retrieved August 29, 2015
Callow, J. (2011, June 3). Italian football rocked by fresh match-fixing scandal. Retrieved from the guardian: http://www.theguardian.com/football/2011/jun/02/italy-football-corruption-match-fixing
Chase, H. (2015, July 28). Corruption in Serie B Soccer. Retrieved August 29, 2015, from Harvard Sports Analysis: http://harvardsportsanalysis.org/2015/07/statistically-proving-corruption-in-serie-b-soccer-and-why-it-may-have-stopped/
Haberfeld, M. R., & Sheehan, D. (2013). Match-Fixing in International Sports: Existing Processes, Law Enforcement, and Prevention Strategies. Springer Science & Business Media. Retrieved August 29, 2015
Johnston , A. (2012, May 28). How Italy has reacted to the latest match-fixing arrests. Retrieved August 29, 2015, from bbc: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-18239792
Minj, P. (2012, August 18). Calcio: Calciopoli, Calcioscommesse and the infamous scandals. Retrieved August 29, 2015, from Sportskeeda: http://www.sportskeeda.com/football/calcio-calciopoli-calcioscommesse-and-the-infamous-scandals
University Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne and the ICSS. (2014). Protecting the Integrity of Sport Competition. Sorbonne-ICSS Research Programme on Ethics and Sports. Retrieved August 29, 2015
Van Rompuy, B. (2015). THE ODDS OF MATCH FIXING. Asser Instituut. Retrieved August 29, 2015