As the world turns their eyes, ears and lives towards South Africa for the world cup, the focus will be on the matches, the players and fans as they compete for the greatest prize in world football. However, not all is well in the murky world of Football – match fixing.
The first mention of match fixing was brought up by Declan Hill, a Canadian journalist and avid soccer fan. In publishing the book, the fix, organized crime and soccer over 5 years ago, he brought to light the impact of gambling on the beautiful game.
Originating from Asia, match-fixing has been wide spread from the Calciao to the 2006 World Cup in Germany.
The following is an excerpt Hill delivered the Council of Europe, posted on his blog.
I do stand before you as a man who has risked his life to protect a sport that he loves. Five years ago when I spoke about these dangers many people did not believe me, “It is not possible,” they said, “that so much corruption could come into our sports.” Now many of those same people have passed from disbelief to resignation without going through combat. They say things like, “It is not possible to do anything about all this corruption, and besides it is not the big teams or the big players.” This is the attitude of the deliberately blind.
Source: howtofixasoccergame.com
Hill says he cannot say if match fixing will occur during the 2010 World Cup but he does say, with certainty, that match fixers will at the World Cup in South Africa.
While FIFA is trying to play down corruption at the World Cup, it says it is working with INTERPOL to investigate organized crime in soccer and it has set up an anti-corruption hot line for soccer players and officials.
Essentially, FIFA was compelled to act after many of Hill’s allegations about corruption is soccer started to bear fruit.
A match-fixing and betting scandal in host Germany marred preparations for the 2006 World Cup. Referee Robert Hoyzer was jailed, and members of the Croatian crime syndicate behind that scam have been arrested in a current German probe.
Italy won the World Cup four years ago just as a scandal was unfolding at home that attracted worldwide scorn. Senior federation and club officials were banned from holding office after it was revealed they arranged for referees favorable to certain teams to get key domestic matches.
In the fallout, referee Massimo de Santis was removed from World Cup duty weeks before kickoff.
Blatter said then he feared referees were a tempting target for fixers, and wanted to raise their salaries and professional standards. The 30 referees and 60 assistants on World Cup duty will be closely guarded at their hotel near Pretoria.
Source: usatoday.com
Most recently, there was a corruption scandal involving English Football and the head of England’s 2018 World Cup Bid Team, Lord Triesman.
Lord Triesman resigned as head of England’s 2018 World Cup bid team, after suggesting Spain and Russia are planning to bribe referees at the upcoming event, shocked fans and may have fatally threatened England’s bid to host the next World Cup
Source: www2.macleans.ca
The Lord Triesman incident is what prompted FIFA and INTERPOL to a launch a corruption probe.
Now, even UEFA (the European Football Association) acknowledges that corruption is deep, dangerous problem for soccer.
Michel Platini, the president of Europe’s soccer authority, UEFA, even told lawmakers in Brussels last month that the sport is in “mortal danger.”
Source: ca.sports.yahoo.com
The solution to the problem goes beyond setting up an anti-corruption hot line, though Hill says that is a necessary first step. Hill suggests the creation of an International Anti-Corruption Agency, perhaps similar to the World Anti-Doping Agency that policies illegal drug use in athletes; Paying referees and officials a better wage so they won’t be tempted to fix matches; and educating young players about the dangers of being lured by match fixers are all steps FIFA could take Hill says.
JIMSBLOT 
Posted on June 27, 2010
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