Sport's bane

In chaos theory, the idea of the butterfly effect is often a phrase used to describe the way a small event can result in much larger ones occurring at a later date. It's based on the theoretical example of the flapping of a distant butterfly's wings creating a future hurricane.

The arrest and conviction of German referee Robert Hoyzer on match-fixing charges in 2005 could be seen as the first flap of that butterfly's wings. The downfall of the Bundesliga official, who was sentenced to two years and five months in jail after admitting to fixing top football matches in return for bribes from a Croatian mafia ring, would prove to be just the start of the European match-fixing hurricane.

Hoyzer's conviction eventually led to the arrest and conviction of German-Croatian Ante Sapina, one of the masterminds behind the biggest match-fixing operation ever to hit European soccer. Sapina and his accomplices fixed matches in the lower-tier German Oberliga, the Champions League and even qualifying groups for the FIFA 2006 World Cup.

Sapina eventually admitted to fixing more than 20 matches between 2008 and 2009 during the course of his trial, which ended in May this year when he was sentenced to five years and six months in prison by a district court in the western German city of Bochum.

While Sapina and his cohorts were planning the globalization of betting fraud from their base in Berlin in 2006, the Calciopoli betting scandal in Italy's Serie A was also erupting.

It was revealed that during the 2004-05 season, Juventus general manager Luciano Moggi held conversations with several Italian football officials aimed at influencing referee appointments. The fallout was immense, with Juventus eventually being stripped of their league title and being relegated to Serie B. Dozens of officials, including Moggi, were banned for life, handed prison sentences or heavily fined.

Concerns reach politics

These scandals and many other smaller subsequent operations sent shockwaves through European soccer and led many national federations, as well European soccer's governing body, UEFA, to set up task forces and investigations in an attempt to remove this criminal element from the game. The problem was judged to be so severe that it became a matter of debate even at the political level in Europe.

Despite the efforts of the European game's ruling bodies and the involvement of the European Union, there was no consensus, allowing criminals to slip through the cracks and continue to operate through legal loopholes.

"To be able to combat match-fixing adequately, EU member states needed to criminalize match-fixing and fraud in sport in national law," Emine Bozkurt, European member of parliament (MEP) and advocate of greater EU cooperation on combating match-fixing, told Deutsche Welle.

"However, only a few member states had such a definition," Bozkurt said. "In some member states match-fixing was not even defined by law and was therefore not a crime. This situation remains true today in some cases."

Bozkurt explained that, in the current situation, people involved in match-fixing can easily switch from one member state to another where they will not be punished.

Attention demanded

The butterfly effect emanating from the Sapina case has continued to blow through European soccer, with a number of Turkish league clubs becoming embroiled in a new match-fixing scandal this summer. In Britain, meanwhile, members of an alleged betting ring, including the father and uncle of England and Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney, were arrested earlier this month on suspicion of influencing Scottish Premier League results.

If there was any further evidence needed to prove that the match-fixing scourge was still blighting European soccer, it was delivered by Chris Eaton, head of security for FIFA, world soccer's governing body, in his report to the European Parliament this month.

Speaking in Brussels last week, Eaton told parliamentarians that criminal gangs were making long-term investments in match-fixing and even purchasing clubs and organizing referee training camps to exert influence over the multi-million-euro illegal betting business.

Such claims admittedly seem fanciful; however, the case of Ante Sapina can be used here as testimony to their truth. As part of their attempt to gain greater control of results, Sapina and his associates not only organized and financed a training camp for Bosnian club NK Travnik in Switzerland, but also took over a Belgian second division team, assembled with "obedient" players, who would perform on the pitch according to the wishes of their bosses - without exception.

Calls for cooperation

Eaton's report and address to the European Parliament was timely, not only because of the most recent revelations of match-fixing in Turkey, Britain and also Finland, but also because it came just days after the Council of Europe adopted a new recommendation against match-fixing which could open the door to a legally binding international convention, which would strengthen the commitments of states on the issue.

The Council’s recommendation, which will be put to all EU member states for ratification, calls for more international cooperation and adoption of policies and concrete measures aimed at preventing and combating the manipulation of results.

"The recommendation establishes a political commitment on measures to be taken," Stanislas Frossard, the executive secretary of the Enlarged Partial Agreement on Sport at the Council of Europe, told Deutsche Welle. "It does not give new powers, but it clarifies roles and responsibilities."

"In order to address the issue of match-fixing, three stakeholders need to get involved and cooperate with each another: public authorities, sports organizations and betting operators," he said. "These measures cover education, prosecution, detection and investigation on suspicious cases, and prevention of conflict of interests. The implementation of the [Council] recommendation will be followed up, assistance activities will be organized and cooperation at the international level will be established.

"This implementation will take place through national laws and policies, sports regulations and regulations covering betting operators," he added. "In the sports movement, most of the burden falls on the international and national federations.

"These efforts will reach the local level with educational campaigns and regulations. These measures come at a cost, but tolerating match-fixing, which involves criminal activities, manipulation of sports and misuse of betting, would have a much higher cost for society, sports organizations and betting operators."

European response

The Council of Europe recommendations echo many of those made by MEP Emine Bozkurt in her European Dimension in Sport report, which has been adopted unanimously by the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs in the European Parliament - specifically, the need for more efficient international joint investigations, an initiative supported by European law enforcement agency, Europol.

"Law enforcement needs to cooperate closely because criminals nowadays operate on an international scale," Bozkurt said. "Match-fixing is a lucrative business with high profits, low risk and low sentences. Unfortunately, some EU countries still have a too soft approach against match-fixing. This is why all EU member states firstly need to have a legal definition of match-fixing in sport, and, secondly, they need to harmonize this legislation to be able to fight match-fixing adequately.

"This is a very serious crime. If no action against match-fixing is taken, the very integrity of sport is at stake," she said.

UEFA has welcomed the involvement of politicians at a European level, with Michel Platini, the body's president, admitting that match-fixing had become so criminalized that UEFA could not fight it alone.

"UEFA and the sports movement have not been sitting idly by, remained passive or adopted a wait-and-see policy," Platini said in a statement released to Deutsche Welle. "On the contrary, we have stepped up our efforts, initiatives and, indeed, courage in an attempt to prevent the manipulation of results for betting purposes."

"But you have to understand that we cannot combat this scourge on our own," Platini added. "Why not? The answer is as simple as it is worrying: because match-fixing has become the favorite pastime of organized criminal networks. We cannot, therefore, win this battle alone. We have reached the point where the situation requires strategic action."

Author: Nick Amies
Editor: Darren Mara