Starlizard posts suspicious football matches report for H1 23

The London-based sports betting and data consultancy, Starlizard, released a new report from its specialist integrity division, Starlizard Integrity Services (SIS), revealing that 79 suspicious football matches were identified for the first half of 2023. The period that the new report covers is between January 1, 2023, and June 30, 2023.

The company explained that matches identified as "suspicious" would relate to betting patterns that may be related to match-fixing. SIS said that the level of suspicion may differ for each match, and depends on the nature and amount of evidence collected. Yet, it said that all of the identified matches should undergo additional investigation.

Affy Sheikh, SIS' Head, commented in a statement, saying: "These statistics show that suspicious betting activity and the specter of match-fixing continue to hang over football - and are not about to go away." He pointed out that a similar suspicion level has been observed for football matches over the last three years. Sheikh said that those results reaffirm the need for effective and strong collaboration between anti-corruption stakeholders to tackle such integrity issues.

Judging by the latest report, some 27% or 21 matches "were flagged due to suspicious betting patterns in First Half Only betting markets." On that point, Sheikh said that the new data points to an uptick in suspicious betting activities in specialized markets, like First Half Only wagers. According to him, this data confirms that manipulation attempts can impact a variety of markets.

"Unfortunately, the increase in integrity alerts from lower domestic leagues again demonstrates the vulnerability of those involved in lower-funded leagues and competitions where continued vigilance and education are of upmost importance," said Sheikh in conclusion.

Judging by the latest data, 35% or 28 matches identified as suspicious were from three countries. One of those countries was related to a total of 12 integrity alerts, while the other two were responsible for 8 integrity alerts each. Looking at the broader picture, 24 different integrity alerts were related to 24 different countries. All those alerts were related to domestic men's football competitions.

On the other hand, 61% or 48 suspicious football matches were from domestic league competitions below the top level. Some 14% or 11 matches identified as suspicious were not related to a specific country, making them international.

Overall, the 79 matches identified as suspicious represented only 0.48% of the total 16,336 football games that were analyzed by SIS for the first half of 2023. Still, a comparison to the corresponding period last year, shows similar figures, considering that in H1 2022 there were 84 suspicious matches identified or 0.45% of the total 18,845 analyzed football games.

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