The agreement aims at promoting integrity, protecting football and fighting match fixing through a tailor made regional approach
Tuesday, September 6, 2016 - The Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) officials met with authorities of FIFA Security and FIFA’s Early Warning System (EWS) team at the Home of FIFA in Zurich recently to sign a cooperation agreement which aims to establish a joint framework for promoting and protecting the integrity of football matches organized under the auspices of CONCACAF and to set forth the conditions for the provision of specialized monitoring service by FIFA’s subsidiary EWS to CONCACAF.
This agreement responds to the acknowledgement of the parties that the prevention of match manipulation and the protection of sports integrity of football will only be successful through a proactive cooperation within the framework of the global FIFA Integrity Initiative.
FIFA and CONCACAF agreed that effective measures must be taken through education, prevention, detection and investigation of match fixing. This agreement gives way to a renewed and tailor-made approach to protect football competition in the region, establishing clear and secure protocols for active sharing of information, as well as regional implementation of strategies and programs to conduct with the member associations at national level.
Speaking about the signing of the agreement FIFA’s Security Ralf Mutschke stated:
“CONCACAF has been already a strong partner for us in the fight against match manipulation. Now we are deepening this cooperation by providing a wide range of measures to safeguard the integrity of the game. Our aim is to build a global football alliance against match fixing.”
CONCACAF will have access to the expertise and services of FIFA’s EWS by counting with the monitoring and analysis of the international betting markets of their competitions and through comprehensive reporting back to CONCACAF and FIFA, as well as educational seminars and trainings to support integrity-oriented capacity building in the region.
CONCACAF General Secretary Philippe Moggio referred to the signing of the agreement in the following manner:
"CONCACAF's agreement with FIFA and EWS reflects our vision and commitment to prevent, detect and address match-fixing within the region. Establishing a platform of cooperation between stakeholders including sports governing bodies, federations and public authorities, is crucial to protect the integrity of football."
The meeting confirmed FIFA’s commitment and defining route to promote integrity and prevent all methods or practices which might jeopardize the integrity of football worldwide, working alongside with all confederations and member associations who commit with the safeguard of the game.
