Today at a press conference in Rome, the Federazione Italiana Rugby (FIR) put pen to paper on a three year partnership that will see Sportradar Security Service provide both its Fraud Detection System and its Fraud Prevention Services to the top league in Italy (the Eccellenza) and the ten clubs that contest it.
The Fraud Detection System will monitor 450 betting operators from Europe and beyond to flag and analyse any unorthodox betting patterns and behaviours. The Fraud Prevention Services portion of the partnership will ensure that all ten clubs of the Eccellenza send their players, coaches and managers through the fully tailored workshop, which will be led by Sportradar’s Integrity Executive in Italy, Marcello Presilla.
The partnership is a three year long agreement and the first workshop was delivered today to the club linked to the Italian police, Fiamme Oro.
“Every year Italian rugby is making progress. Last year we came fifth in the Six Nations and this year we gave a good account of ourselves in the Rugby World Cup. The game is growing here and we love the passion of our fans who travel and support their teams across Italy and Europe. But growing the sport also means taking care of its roots and its foundations and one of those foundations is its integrity; its honesty. This partnership with the company that supports all the main rugby leagues and federations in their defence against match manipulation is a commitment. It is a commitment from us to our players, coaches, officials, fans, sponsors and broadcasters that we will cut no corners when it comes to keeping the game we love honest. Italian rugby can and will continue to grow, knowing that its foundations are secure and protected” said FIR President Alfredo Gavazzi.
Sportradar Managing Director Security Services Andreas Krannich added: “Rugby is a sport strong on values around integrity, fair play and respect and what we see with this partnership is FIR living and protecting those values. By reaching out to us, FIR have shown a keen ability to cut through the noise and understand the dangers. They have focused on making sure that they are partnering with the experts in rugby union and we look forward to the series of workshops we will be rolling out to all the Eccellenza clubs in the coming weeks.”
ABOUT THE FEDERAZIONE ITALIANA RUGBY (FIR)
The Italian Rugby Federation or FIR is the governing body for the sport of rugby union in Italy.
There are two fully professional Italian clubs that play in the Pro12, in the European Rugby Champions Cup and in the European Rugby Challenge Cup—Benetton Rugby Treviso and Zebre.
There are ten semi-professional Italian clubs that play in the National Championship of Excellence (Eccellenza), four of which qualify to play in the European Rugby Challenge Cup Qualifying
Competition to qualify to the European Rugby Challenge Cup.
For more information about FIR, please visit: www.federugby.it
ABOUT SPORTRADAR
Sportradar is a global leader in understanding and leveraging the power of sports data and digital content for its clients around the world.
The company’s Security Services operation provides the Fraud Detection System (FDS) to several federations, including the AFC, CONCACAF and UEFA. This unique system allows the Security Services team to monitor betting behaviour and patterns worldwide and to identify suspicious activities. Those findings prove invaluable for sports federations and law enforcement agencies that are looking to pinpoint match-fixers. The Security Services also include the Fraud Prevention Service (FPS) through which Sportradar offers education tools and services that have been delivered to leagues and clubs around the world. These have been show to increase awareness of illegal betting and match-fixing among those involved in sport.
More than 600 businesses in over 80 countries rely on Sportradar’s data depth and quality services in their daily business. Headquartered in Switzerland, Sportradar has offices in 30 other cities and employs over 1,300 highly experienced staff worldwide.
For more information about Sportradar, please visit: www.sportradar.com.
