Swedish football’s governing body: Match-fixing threat will never be eradicated

Swedish Elite Football integrity officer Anders Wikström has said the threat of match-fixing in Sweden will never be fully eradicated despite significant gains having been made in recent years.

A Sportradar report into the global match-fixing incidents in 2024, published early January, found a 17% decline in incidents in 2023 after it analysed 850,000 sporting fixtures across 70 different sports.

Reacting to the report, and the point that Sweden had just three lower degree match-fixing alerts last year, Wikström said the programmes in place across the country were having an evidential impact.

Swedish Elite Football is the governing body for Swedish football’s top two divisions – the Allsvenskan and Superettan – with Unibet serving as the principal sponsor for the body.

In collaboration with Unibet, all 32 teams in the top two leagues have had an integrity office in situ since 2020, while the league body and operator have collaborated on training schemes as part of the relationship.

Despite highlighting the drop in match-fixing incidents, Wikström stressed there would always be a risk, meaning it would be impossible to say the threat has disappeared entirely.

He did note that since the Covid-19, there have been “extremely few suspected cases” in Sweden’s top two leagues.

He said: “There are many reasons for the improved figures and many involved actors who have all done their part.

“Above all, increased information exchange between different actors has proven to be very successful in the fight against match-fixing.

“There is of course a risk that people have become more skilled at hiding suspicious matches, which is why we can never say the threat is gone.

“But such a clear downward trend with the same, or even more effective measurement technology, still suggests that the work done by us and many others is beneficial.”

Wikström added that training, which alongside match-fixing awareness also includes mental health and gambling addiction insights, was “central” to reducing “unethical and illegal activities”.

He said: “The aim of the training is to provide a deeper understanding of the mechanisms and rules surrounding match-fixing, but some of it also deals with how individuals can set limits for their own playing.

“All players and managers undergo the training before each season and during the summer months we also catch up with new acquisitions. No one should be able to say they don’t know about this.”

The training scheme has also been exported to Iceland, with the Icelandic League Association set to deploy the programme to both men’s and women’s football sides ahead of the 2025 season.

In December, Sweden officially ratified the Council of Europe’s Macolin Convention, as it continues the ongoing fight against match-fixing.