The Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) secured a memorandum of understanding with the European Sports Security Association (ESSA), the regulated betting industry’s integrity body, to create an arrangement of sharing betting integrity information.
The agreement with ESSA is the latest example of the CONCACAF’s mission to prevent match-fixing in football by establishing transparency and integrity when it comes to its sanctioned matches. CONCACAF Director of Sports Integrity Dr. Laila Mintas said that having ESSA provide its information-sharing base with many of the world’s major football authorities is a step in that direction.
“Cooperation and coordination with all other stakeholders is integral to CONCACAF’s strategy,” Dr. Mintas added. “The sports betting industry is an important partner in that fight. Building an efficient partnership with the betting industry’s integrity body is therefore very essential.”
Back in July, CONCACAF also announced extensions of its partnerships with Sportradar and FIFA Early Warning System (EWS), further strengthening its resources in monitoring betting behavior on all of its sanctioned competitions throughout the 2014–2014 season.
With the MoU agreement with ESSA, CONCACAF President and FIFA Vice President Jeffrey Webb turned his attention towards the sport’s overall governing body, calling for a massive overhaul to the process by which its executive committee is elected. He made his thoughts known at the Soccerex Global Convention days after incumbent FIFA President Sepp Blatter announced his bid to run for a fifth term.
Webb pointed to the various scandals that have plagued the organization in recent years and pleaded for a fresh approach to the way the governing body elects its leaders. “We have to have trust and confidence. We have to go further with reforms; the landscape of global football has changed. FIFA was formed in 1904—that is far away from 2014. We should be bold enough and brave enough to reform the executive committee.”
He also stated that the FIFA board should have a proportional representation while also pointing out that it shouldn’t be determined in numbers but also by diversifying the background of the board members. “I am a big fan of independent board members. We have made a huge step adding women, but why not someone from refereeing, from the economical partners and of course the players.”
