A 2-day Integrisport Erasmus+ Project Awareness Raising Session on combating the manipulation of sports competitions for the Policía Judiciária and the Prosecution Service of Portugal, took place in Lisbon on 18-19 February 2020. The training was co-organised by Policía Judiciária and CSCF-Foundation for Sport Integrity under the framework of the European Union’s Erasmus+ Programme.
During the event, police officers and prosecutors discussed and exchanged ideas on good practices for fighting sport manipulation with the representatives of the invited Portuguese and international stakeholders.
Internationally recognized experts in the field of combating sports manipulations from various organizations also contributed to the success of the event through in-depth presentations. Experts included representatives from Polícia Judiciária, EU Athletes, Global Lottery Monitoring System (GLMS), CSCF-Foundation for Sport Integrity, as well as Interpol Integrity in Sport unit, the Institution of Sport and Youth of Portugal, the Portuguese Olympic Committee, Portuguese Football Federation and Betting Regulation and Inspection Service of Portugal.
Mr. Claudio Marinelli, the representative from Interpol’s Integrity in Sport, Anti-Corruption Office recognized that tackling match-fixing and other crimes in sport requires national and international cooperation between sport, public authorities, betting regulators, the gambling industry and law enforcement: INTERPOL helps bring all these stakeholders together to tackle crimes in sport.
The Council of Europe’s Convention on Manipulation of Sports Competitions and the importance of multidisciplinary cooperation on the fight against sport manipulation was introduced by the Institution of Sport and Youth of Portugal and CSCF-Foundation for Sport Integrity.
As Mr. Luís Neves, National Director of Polícia Judiciária said: “The fight against … manipulation of sports results is a priority of the economic and financial crime unit of Polícia Judiciária”.
“Although Polícia Judiciária have concluded some very successful cases on match fixing, we need to keep one step ahead of the criminals. Integrisport Erasmus+ is a very important project for Polícia Judiciária and the Portuguese stakeholders to be able to gain more knowledge and extend their cooperation at national and international level in order to tackle sport manipulation and clean up sport even more efficiently.” – he added.
Mr. Norbert Rubicsek, director of CSCF and project manager of Integrisport Erasmus+, said: “In order to fight sport manipulation effectively, law enforcement agencies and judicial authorities need to have an in-depth, targeted understanding on sport manipulation and the perspectives of other stakeholders. These are the main objectives of Integrisport Erasmus+.
The Integrisport Erasmus+ awareness raising sessions in each partner country give law enforcement officers and judicial authorities the possibility to better understand and tackle the dangers of sport manipulation to sport and the society.”
The next awareness raising session will be held in Bratislava in March 2020.
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