Council of Europe’s recommendation on match-fixing
The Council of Europe fights against match-fixing. On 28 September 2011 the Committee of Ministers of EPAS (Enlarged Partial Agreement on Sport) adopted a recommendation on promotion of the integrity of sport against manipulation of results, notably match-fixing. This is the first such document adopted on a broad European forum. Poland actively participated in the works on it.
In the recommendation, the Council of Europe calls national governments, sports organisations and sports betting operators to take joint action to combat match-fixing. It draws attention not only to the need to implement the necessary legislative instruments, but also to take preventive measures.
Referring to the adoption of the recommendation, UEFA President Michel Platini emphasised that with this action the Council of Europe took the political leadership in combating match-fixing. He expressed his sincere hope that other European Union institutions will also take steps in this direction. He recalled that the Council of Europe had already laid the milestone in the fight against hooliganism, violence and discrimination in European stadiums, by adopting the “European Convention on Spectator Violence and Misbehaviour at Sports Events and in particular at football matches”.