Just days before the start of the 2014 FIFA World Cup, the European Parliament issued an anti-corruption warning.<br /><br />The regulatory body supervising online sports betting has highlighted some 460 potentially corrupt football matches in the recently finished European football championships.<br /><br />Marc Tarabella, a Belgian centre-left MEP is pleased with the outcome.<br /><br />“In previous World Cups, such as the 2010 tournament, we have just revealed that there may have been some match fixing,” he said. “I am extremely pleased that FIFA – thanks to the FederBet online betting foundation – will monitor all parties involved in the World Cup finals, in order to detect whether certain parties could be taking part in illicit bets.”<br /><br />It is a contagious virus in the world of football. Fixed matches are suspected of taking place in the first and second division championships in Italy, France, Portugal and the Netherlands, to name a few.<br /><br />The preliminary stages of the Champions League are also under scrutiny.<br /><br />FederBet’s director, Francesco Baranca, has called on UEFA to react.<br /><br />“We need to react now,” he said. “Because, if we don’t we won’t be able to stop the virus, because the players will lose faith in our ability to control it.”<br /><br />The Spanish football league has decided to take action by setting up a training programme for professional footballers and young players, in collaboration with the police.<br /><br />The Director of Integrity for the league, Manuel Quintana, told euronews: “During the training session, the police warn the footballers that match fixing is an offence, liable to up to four years in prison.”<br /><br />To restrict illicit betting, the European Parliament has secured a ban on betting on youth matches. But to clean up football altogether, some MEPs would like much stronger cooperation on an international level.
