Today, Monday, the Asian Football Confederation concluded a four-year memorandum of understanding with the International Federation for Betting Integrity, in light of its commitment to protecting and sponsoring the game’s competitions.
In the next stage, the AFC will work closely with the International Federation for Betting Integrity, in order to monitor any irregular behavior and any suspicious activities in betting on football matches throughout the continent of Asia.
Through its monitoring and warning platform, the International Federation for Betting Integrity works to share direct information with the AFC about suspicious matches in betting, in order to enhance the AFC’s ability to investigate any possibility of match-fixing.
“The AFC’s Vision and Mission Framework emphasizes its long-standing ambitions to maintain the highest ethical and sporting standards, and we are committed to upholding our core principles of fair play and integrity,” said Andrew Mercer, General Counsel and Director of the AFC Legal Department.
The official website of the AFC quoted Mercer as saying, “Leveraging strong cooperation with the world’s leading organizations is essential to combat match-fixing, and this memorandum of understanding with the International Federation for Betting Integrity strengthens our ability to ensure that football in Asia remains clean for the benefit of our future generation.” From fans, players and all parties to the game.”
“The AFC is committed to promoting integrity, ethics and fair play in Asian football, and we are pleased to work with the International Betting Integrity Federation as we seek to enhance our ability to monitor and address suspicious activity, and ensure football in Asia is protected from the threat of match-fixing,” Mercer explained.
For his part, Khaled Ali, CEO of the International Federation for Betting Integrity, said: Cooperation is a vital part of any effective integrity monitoring and investigation framework, and the International Federation for Betting Integrity is pleased to be able to strengthen its relationship with the Asian Football Confederation through this important cooperation to exchange information.
He added, “For its part, the International Federation for Betting Integrity will seek to protect the AFC ecosystem by taking advantage of monitoring the activity of its members' global customer accounts, which cover more than $300 billion in sports betting annually.”
The Memorandum of Understanding between the AFC and the International Betting Integrity Federation represents an important step forward in the fight against match-fixing in Asian football, as both organizations are committed to creating a safe environment for the sport, and enhancing trust between fans, players and all parties to the game.