Starlizard Integrity Services have released a report which has revealed that betting-related match-fixing went up 16% in 2023, with 167 matches showing potential manipulation.
Match-Fixing In Football Increased 16% In 2023 Say Starlizard
Starlizard analysed 65,441 football matches in 2023, across 835 competitions in 128 different countries, with 167 showing signs of potential manipulation.
Whilst that was only a small 0.26% of the total number of matches assessed, it shouldn’t be happening at all. In 2022, Starlizard identified 144, seeing an increase of 16% in 2023.
Affy Sheikh, head of Starlizard Integrity Services said: “Match-fixing remains an ever-present danger to football and is a plague on the game – damaging it as a spectacle and compromising the essential elements of skill, chance and fair play. It tarnishes the reputation of the game and all associated with it – including sponsoring brands – and ruins the trust and enjoyment of the fans. It destroys careers and costs people their liberty,”
What Did The Starlizard Data Reveal?
- 69 of the assessed games (41.3%) deemed suspicious were played in the UEFA region (Europe).
- The AFC (Asia) saw the highest regional percentage of suspicious matches (0.47%), with 0.52% of all international matches also assessed as suspicious.
- Under half (49.7%) of all suspicious matches were played in domestic leagues below the top flight.
- Top-level leagues represented over a quarter of the suspicious matches that were identified (25.2%)
- Club friendly and youth matches had high percentage, accounting for 10.8% and 6% of those that were suspicious, despite representing just 2.9% and 3.5% of games that were analysed in 2023.
- Full-Time betting markets dominated the suspicious activity, but was huge rise in First-Half only markets. 45 (27%) of the 167 matches assessed were solely on First-Half only markets. Significant rise from six games (4.2%) in 2022.
Who Are Starlizard Integrity Services?
SIS are the specialist integrity division of Starlizard, who are a London-based sports betting consultancy.
Their detailed understanding of sport and sporting performance and their active involvement in betting markets offer a unique perspective when identifying when betting markets and sporting events look wrong.
Starlizard have been providing integrity services for sports governing bodies and associations since 2010, establishing SIS in 2017, focusing solely on this type of work.
SIS are placed purely to identify suspicious matches and betting patterns.
