EU to fund ESSA’s anti-match-fixing projects

The European Commision’s Erasmus+ programme is set to fund three new anti-match-fixing projects from Sports betting integrity body ESSA.

UK.- ESSA, the non-profit organisation that fights match fixing is set to receive funding from the European Commission’s Erasmus+ programme. Funds will go to three new anti-match-fixing projects promoted by the association that will add up to the one that’s already underway as part of ESSA’s policy to participate in and promote integrity efforts on behalf of its members.

Projects involved are PROtect Integrity+, a plan designed to combat the cross-border match-fixing threat to European sport by providing the ‘first European-wide, athlete-led whistleblowing system’. The mobile application reporting tool will be enforced in seven countries and will involve five different sports, encouraging athletes to report approaches and suspicions of match-fixing.

The T-PREG (coordinated by the Lisbon and Milan Catholic University) and Fundacja Ekstraklasy (managed by the Polish football) anti-match-fixing projects are the other two involved. These three programmes add to ESSA’s existing engagement in Transparency International’s Anti Match-Fixing Top Training programme.

“These projects have the potential to make a significant positive impact in the fight against match-fixing,” said Secretary General for ESSA Khalid Ali and added: “They represent an important part of ESSA’s goal to protect our members, consumers and sporting events from betting-related corruption, in collaboration with key stakeholders. We look forward to working closely with our partners and contributing fully to all of the projects we are involved in.”