Russia aiming to prevent match fixing at World Cup

Russia police

Russia policeRussia’s football rulers are proposing a state bill that would combat illegal match fixing. The Russian Football Association has asked for the bill to be drawn so that any temptation to fix matches is firmly removed before the World Cup arrives in the country in 2018. Put forward by Sergei Stepashin, a member of the executive committee of the Russian Football Association (RFA) and chairman of Dynamo Moscow’s supervisory board, the new regulations would make it a criminal offence to fix the outcome of a match. We’ve seen in the gambling industry that Russia doesn’t mess around when it comes to prosecutions and match fixing won’t be any different.

Minister for Sport Vitaly Mutko told Rbth.ru the State Duma has already set up a working group to created a draft amendment and added: “I hope the changes will be ready for consideration by the State Duma in the first half of 2012. The next step will be to create a new rule for football that will, above all, resolve the matter of criminal liability for rigged matches. In any case, we will take account of international practices in this sphere.”

Chairman of the aforementioned RFA committee, Anton Kavazashvili added: “This is an initiative of great relevance. The new law will become a serious weapon against rigged matches. The current legislation gives us few weapons for initiating legal action against football cheats.”

Russia’s drive to combat fixing reflects a worldwide stance against fixing that is getting stricter by the year. Both FIFA and UEFA have enlisted the help of Interpol and will aim to eradicate it completely from future tournaments.