Swedish Football Association to Forbid Betting on U21 Matches

According to Federbet, extensive match fixation has occured in the Swedish U21 series.

The Swedish Football Association answer has been swift and has asked betting sites to stop offering markets on these matches.

Awareness Campaigns to Counter Corruption

Dagens Nyheter reported: “Federbet - who works to counter match fixing - has analyzed how the odds change before and during matches with about 50 bookmakers offering games on Swedish U21 matches, and discovered deviations that indicate cheating”.

Anders Hübinette, Head of Legal Unit of the Swedish Football Association said: “That's the information I know, and of course it is really important. Then it's hard to estimate how widespread it is, regardless of the series. One has to be careful to point out someone. What I can say is that we have watched matches in the U21 series. We do not like betting on those series, or to lower series or junior matches. For example, betting on number of booking or corners. But we have a reality to deal with, with foreign bookmakers offering games”.

It is really difficult to completely control these manipulated matches. Anders Hübinette believes that the attitude of players and staff members is crucial to addressing the problem.

He added: “We can educate and inform players and members of staff and then investigate clearly. We want these match fixers to know that the association and the police are in place. Their actions are not risk-free and there will be consequences for them.

Earlier this summer, the Swedish government announced that match fixing became a priority issue for the game investigation that overlooks the gaming market.

In June, Minister of Civil Affairs Ardalan Shekarabi said: “Therefore, it is important that we use the gaming license system to also combat match fixation”.