19 May 2011

FIFA targets illegal betting

4:07 pm on 19 May 2011

It's been revealed that match-fixing in football yields more than $100 billion a year, a figure equivalent to legal betting on the sport.

FIFA's security chief Chris Eaton revealed the figure to highlight the need to curb corruption in the sport, and justify FIFA president Sepp Blatter's $36 million pledge last week towards a dedicated anti-corruption unit based in Singapore.

The unit, in a partnership with Interpol, aims to develop a programme for soccer officials, players and administrators that warns against match-fixing and alerts them to how it dishonours the game and might ruin their careers.

Chris Eaton was with Interpol for more than a decade, and was manager of operations before joining FIFA in April last year.