Head of security at FIFA: Russia has to fight match-fixing

Chris Eaton, the Head of Security at FIFA, called on Russia to take the match-fixing allegations more seriously and work to clean up Russian football.

«I am well aware of the extent of the problem in Russia,» Eaton told Reuters in an interview. You can just go through FIFPro’s so-called ‘Black Book’ to find out how deep the problem is in eastern Europe and Russia,» the FIFA official said at the International Sport Security Conference (ISSC), held this week in Qatar, cited in Reuters.

«There are three basic elements in the fight against corruption and match-fixing. First, you need good government structure. Then you have to have information or what we call the intelligence operation. And finally, you must implement that in practice.»

«The Russians have a good opportunity to get all these elements together. I’ve had a good dialogue with Russia’s chief of referees, Roberto Rosetti, and I plan to make regular visits to the country in the future.»

Last month FIFPro (the global union for professional players – Sports.ru), conducted a report, named the Black Book of Eastern Europe, according to which 23.6 percent of players in Eastern Europe were aware of match-fixing in their leagues. In Russia the figure reached as high as 43.5 percent.