AFC joins forces with IBIA to combat match-fixing

The governing body association of football, futsal and beach soccer across most of Asia, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), announced a new collaboration signaling its intention to strengthen the protection of sport from match-fixing attempts.

The Confederation inked a Memorandum of Understanding with IBIA

On Monday, the AFC confirmed it joined forces with the International Betting Integrity Association (IBIA), the global integrity association for the licensed betting industry.

Under the terms of the new alliance, the two organizations entered into a four-year Memorandum of Understanding (Mou).

This will see the AFC and the IBIA collaborate effectively to help the former detect and investigate potential match-fixing attempts in football matches across Asia.

Per the new MoU, the IBIA and AFC send a clear message to bad actors that their efforts would not go undetected as the two organizations will strive to combat manipulation attempts in football through all legal means.

Ultimately, the collaboration seeks to ensure the sport remains clear of match-fixing while at the same time retaining the trust of the players, fans and involved stakeholders.

For its part, the IBIA will leverage its Monitoring and Alert Platform, sharing potential suspicious betting activities across the globe related to AFC's competitions.

This will supercharge the Confederation's efforts to investigate suspicious transactions related to its games.

Earlier this year, the recognizable betting and gaming operator in the Netherlands, 711 B.V., strengthened its integrity compliance under the terms of a collaboration with the IBIA.

The company was accepted as an IBIA member back in August, joining a growing roster of companies, operators and stakeholders that vowed to protect the integrity of global sports and betting, ensuring those activities remain free from match-fixing or manipulation.

The collaboration brings excitement to IBIA, AFC

Khalid Ali, IBIA's CEO, shared his excitement about the collaboration with the AFC in a statement.

"Cooperation is a vital part of any effective integrity monitoring and investigatory framework and IBIA is delighted to be able to strengthen its relationship with the AFC through this important information sharing collaboration," he revealed.

Finally, Ali explained that IBIA will leverage the capabilities of its global members, who cover more than $300bn in betting transactions annually, to help flag suspicious transactions and protect the AFC's competitions.

Andrew Mercer, AFC's General Counsel and Director of Legal Affairs, was similarly delighted about the new collaboration and pointed to the Confederation's strong dedication to upholding "the highest ethical standards" to ensure integrity and fair play in sports.

Additionally, he explained: "Leveraging on strong collaborations with the world’s leading organizations is imperative to our fight against match-fixing and this MoU with IBIA further strengthens our ability to ensure football in Asia remains clean for the benefit of our future generation of fans, players and all our valued stakeholders."

Mercer reiterated AFC's dedication to fair play and ensuring that Asian football is free from manipulation, adding that the collaboration with IBIA plays a key role in those processes.

Back in July, after the end of Euro 2024, UEFA confirmed that no match-fixing or other manipulation attempts were recorded throughout the tournament.

Not unexpectedly, UEFA collaborated with the IBIA to ensure the monitoring of suspicious betting transactions across the globe.

Luckily, one of the most anticipated football events wrapped up with no indications of foul play.

Image credit: Asian Football Confederation