UN updates anti-corruption guidelines ahead of 2026 FIFA World Cup and LA 2028 Olympics
UNODC notes the role of betting operators in monitoring and detection.
Austria.- The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has announced updates to its strategy to prevent match-fixing and betting-related corruption ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup and the LA 2028 Olympic Games in North America. The new strategy provides guidelines on safeguarding the international events based on the G20’s High-Level Principles on tackling corruption in sport.
The UNODC has advised relevant authorities and sports in host jurisdictions (US, Canada, Mexico for the 2026 World Cup and Los Angeles for the 2028 Olympics) to review regulatory frameworks and make updates where necessary. It recommends that criminal justice authorities and legislative bodies deliver workshops at both a local and national level to ensure awareness of protocols to be followed.
The body also recommends inter-agency cooperation between national and international anti-corruption bodies to ensure the exchange of information and coordination to tackle crime in sports. It said this could help ensure a unified approach. It also stressed the importance of ensuring that investigators, prosecutors and relevant officials have enough power to be able to investigate and prosecute corruption and other forms of crime effectively.
“A global trend is the development of mechanisms (such as task forces, platforms, specialized units and entities) to enhance collaboration and cooperation between criminal justice authorities and/or anti-corruption bodies and sports organisations to help tackle corruption and other forms of crime and related wrongdoing in sport,” it said.
The role of betting firms
The UN also recognised the role that the private sector, including betting providers, will play in preventing corruption. It recommends that stakeholders provide prevention and detection services, such as monitoring betting markets. This is an endeavour that organisations such as the International Betting Integrity Association (IBIA) play an important role in.
The IBIA identified 63 cases of potentially suspicious betting activity in the first quarter of 2025. The figure represents a decline of 3 per cent compared to the previous quarter but a rise of 11 per cent year-over-year from the 57 alerts reported in Q1 2024.
The incidents reported covered six sports across 23 countries. Football and tennis remained the sports responsible for the lion’s share of reports at 40 alerts, up from 35 in Q4 2024. There were nine cases related to table tennis, which reflects a drop to more usual numbers after a spike in Q4.
