KUALA LUMPUR: Football authorities vowed Wednesday to excise the "cancer" of match-fixing but said tougher laws were needed worldwide to smash criminal syndicates responsible for throwing hundreds of matches.
The meeting comes on the heels of revelations a fortnight ago that almost 700 matches worldwide, including Champions League ties and World Cup qualifiers, were targeted by gambling gangs.
FIFA's director of security Ralf Mutschke told a two-day gathering with Interpol that the world governing body's "zero tolerance" for match-fixing must be buttressed by "the right policies for law enforcement and the football community".
The meeting comes on the heels of revelations a fortnight ago that almost 700 matches worldwide, including Champions League ties and World Cup qualifiers, were targeted by gambling gangs.
He pointed to the November acquittal of three players in Switzerland accused of committing fraud by throwing games, where a judge said there was no obvious victim.
Mutschke said FIFA was cooperating with the Council of Europe to draft legislation to fight match-fixing, with hopes it would be implemented across the continent.
FIFA's legal team will also press the case at a May meeting of national sports ministers in Berlin where match-fixing is due to be discussed, he added.
About 150 delegates from Asian football associations, player and referee representatives, as well as government agencies, are meeting in the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur, home to the Asian Football Confederation (AFC).
Peter Velappan, who was AFC general-secretary for 30 years until 2007 and is now retired, told AFP that football authorities also must press for strict punishments in any legislation aimed at match-fixing.
According to the European police agency Europol, 380 suspicious match results have been identified in Europe, among nearly 700 worldwide, with the problem tied to a criminal syndicate based in Singapore.
Police in Singapore are calling for hard evidence before acting against Dan Tan Seet Eng, a Singaporean citizen whose name has cropped up in probes across several countries.
Asked by reporters whether FIFA might initiate any sanctions against Singapore football over the situation, Mutschke ruled that out, saying Singapore's football should not be "punished for a political problem".
He also said that "to the best of our knowledge," FIFA's flagship World Cup tournament, the finals of which will be held in Brazil next year, has not been infiltrated by organised crime. (AFP)
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