Motivations and causes
Some major motivations behind match fixing are gambling and future team advantage. According to investigative journalistAgreements with gamblers
There may be financial gain through agreements withBetter playoff chances
Many sports have tournaments where the result of one round determines their opponent in the next round. As a result, by losing a match, a team can face an easier opponent in the next round, making them more likely to win. TheBetter draft position
Most top-level sports leagues inMore favorable schedule next year
NFL teams have been accused of tanking games to obtain a more favorable schedule the following season; this was especially true between 1977 and 1993, when a team finishing last in a five-team division would get to play four of its eight non-division matches the next season against other last-place teams. In the current scheduling formula which has been in place since 2002, only two games in a schedule are based on a team's placement the previous season. Each team will play the same-placed teams based on the previous standings from two of the other divisions in its conference. The remaining eight non-division games are the same for all teams in a division.Match fixing by referees
In addition to the match fixing that is committed by players, coaches and/or team officials, it is not unheard of to have results manipulated by corrupt referees. Since 2004, separate scandals have erupted in prominent sports leagues in Portugal, Germany (Bundesliga scandal (2005), Bundesliga scandal), Brazil (Brazilian football match-fixing scandal) and the United States (see 2007 NBA betting scandal, Tim Donaghy scandal), all of which concerned referees who fixed matches for gamblers. Many sports writers have speculated that in leagues with high player salaries, it is far more likely for a referee to become corrupt since their pay in such competitions is usually much less than that of the players. On December 2, 1896, former American frontier, Old West lawman Wyatt Earp refereed the Fitzsimmons vs. Sharkey boxing match, promoted as the List of heavyweight boxing champions, Heavyweight Championship of the World. Earp was chosen as referee by the National Athletic Association the afternoon of the match after both managers refused to agree on a choice. In the eighth round of a fight dominated by Fitzsimmons, Sharkey suddenly went down, clutching his groin, yelling foul. Referee Earp conferred with both corners for a few seconds before he disqualified Fitzsimmons for a foul that virtually no one saw. Fitzsimmons went to court to attempt to stop Sharkey from taking the purse, but failed when the court ruled that the match was illegal and it had no jurisdiction. Eight years later, Dr. B. Brookes Lee was arrested in Portland, Oregon. He had been accused of treating Sharkey to make it appear that he had been fouled by Fitzsimmons. Lee said, "I fixed Sharkey up to look as if he had been fouled. How? Well, that is something I do not care to reveal, but I will assert that it was done—that is enough. There is no doubt that Fitzsimmons was entitled to the decision and did not foul Sharkey. I got $1,000 for my part in the affair."Match fixing to a draw or a fixed score
Match fixing does not necessarily involve deliberately losing a match. Occasionally, teams have been accused of deliberately playing to a draw or a fixed score where this ensures some mutual benefit (e.g. both teams advancing to the next stage of a competition.) One of the earliest examples of this sort of match fixing in the modern era occurred in 1897–98 Football League#Test matches 1898, 1898 when Stoke City F.C., Stoke City and Burnley F.C., Burnley intentionally drew in that year's final "test match" so as to ensure they were both in the First Division the next season. In response, English Football League, the Football League expanded the divisions to 18 teams that year, thus permitting the intended victims of the fix (Newcastle United F.C., Newcastle United and Blackburn Rovers F.C., Blackburn Rovers) to remain in the First Division. The "test match" system was abandoned and replaced with automatic relegation. A more recent example occurred in the 1982 FIFA World Cup, Germany national football team, West Germany played Austria national football team, Austria in Disgrace of Gijón, the last match of group B. A West German victory by 1 or 2 goals would result in both teams advancing; any less and Germany was out; any more and Austria was out (and replaced by Algeria national football team, Algeria, who had just beaten Chile). West Germany attacked hard and scored after 10 minutes. Afterwards, the players then proceeded to just kick the ball around aimlessly for the remainder of the match. Algerian supporters were so angered that they waved banknotes at the players, while a German fan burned his German flag in disgust. By the second half, the ARD commentator :de:Eberhard Stanjek, Eberhard Stanjek refused any further comment on the game, while the Austrian television commentator :de:Robert Seeger, Robert Seeger advised viewers to switch off their sets. As a result, FIFA changed its tournament scheduling for subsequent FIFA World Cup, World Cups so that the final pair of matches in each group are played simultaneously. Another example took place on the next-to-last weekend of the 1992–93 Serie A season. A.C. Milan, Milan entered their match with Brescia Calcio, Brescia needing only a point to secure the title ahead of crosstown rivals Inter Milan, Inter, while Brescia believed a point would be enough for them to avoid relegation. In a 2004 retrospective on the "dodgiest games" in football history, two British journalists said about the match, "For over 80 minutes, the two teams engaged in a shameful game of cat-and-mouse, in which the cat appeared to have fallen asleep and the mouse was on tranquilisers." Milan scored in the 82nd minute, but Brescia "mysteriously found themselves with a huge overlap" and equalised two minutes later. The 1–1 draw gave Milan their title, but in the end did not help Brescia; other results went against them and they suffered the drop. In knockout competitions where the rules require drawn matches to be replay (sports), replayed, teams have sometimes been accused of intentionally playing one or more draws so as to ensure (a) replay(s). In this case, the motive is usually financial since the ensuing replay(s) would typically be expected to generate additional revenue for the participating teams. One notorious example of this particular type of alleged fix was the 1909 Scottish Cup Final, which sparked a riot after being played twice to a draw.Intentional loss to prejudice third-party rival
A team may deliberately lose a match, giving a victory to the opposing team that damages a third-party rival. An example of this occurred in Seville, Sevilla, Spain, during the 1999–2000 La Liga. Sevilla FC were in last place and were already officially relegation, relegated. In their thirty-fifth match of the season (out of 38), Sevilla faced Real Oviedo of Asturias, which was itself fighting to avoid relegation. An Oviedo victory would put Sevilla's Seville derby, fierce cross-town rival, Real Betis, in the relegation zone. Sevilla performed poorly, while their fans showed support for Oviedo and expressed concern for missed scoring chances by the Asturian side. Oviedo defeated Sevilla 3–2, contributing to the eventual relegation of Betis. Twelve years later, former Sevilla goalkeeper Frode Olsen admitted the team had lost intentionally in order to relegate Betis.Increased gate receipts
In addition to the aforementioned incidents of alleged fixing of drawn matches to ensure replays, mutual fixes have sometimes been alleged in "best of X" knockout series where draws are either not possible or very uncommon. Early versions of baseball's World Series were a common target of such allegations. Because the players received a percentage of the gate receipts for postseason games (a privilege they did not enjoy in the regular season), there was a perception that the players had an incentive to fix an equal number of early games in favor of each team so as to ensure the series would run the maximum number of games (or very close thereto). Partly as an effort to avoid this sort of controversy, early World Series sometimes saw all scheduled games played even if the Series winner was already determined. That did not prove satisfactory since few fans were willing to pay to watch wikt:lame duck, lame duck contests. Eventually, following the controversy at the conclusion of the 1904 season in which theAbuse of tie-breaking rules
On several occasions, creative use of tie-breaking rules have allegedly led teams to play less than their best. An example occurred in the 2004 European Football Championship. Unlike FIFA, UEFA takes the result of the game between the two tied teams (or in a three-way tie, the overall records of the games played with the teams in question only) into consideration before overall goal difference when ranking teams level on points. A situation arose in Group C where Sweden national football team, Sweden and Denmark national football team, Denmark played to a 2–2 draw, which was a sufficiently high scoreline to eliminate Italy national football team, Italy (which had lower-scoring draws with the Swedes and Danes) regardless of Italy's result with already-eliminated Bulgaria national football team, Bulgaria. Although Italy beat Bulgaria by only one goal to finish level with Sweden and Denmark on five points and would hypothetically have been eliminated using the FIFA tie-breaker too, some Italian fans bitterly contended that the FIFA tie-breaker would have motivated their team to play harder and deterred their Scandinavian rivals from, in their view, at the very least half-heartedly playing out the match after the score became 2–2. The same situation happened to Italy in 2012, leading to many pre-game complaints from Italy, who many commentators suggested were right to be concerned because of their own extensive experience in this area. However, Spain-Croatia ended in a 1–0 win for Spain, and the Italians went through. The FIFA tie-breaker, or any goal-differential scheme, can cause problems, too. There have been incidents (especially in basketball) where players on a favored team have won the game but deliberately ensured the quoted point spread was not covered (seePrize sharing
A player can concede with the understanding that the opponent will share the prize equally with him or her. Depending on the game, this can lead to disqualification.Protest action
On occasion, teams tank games as a protest against actions in earlier games. The most lopsided professional football match in history, AS Adema 149–0 SO l'Emyrne, was a result of SO l'Emyrne intentionally losing the game in protest against the referee's action in a previous game.Individual performance in team sports
Bookmakers in the early 21st century accept bets on a far wider range of sports-related propositions than ever before. Thus, a gambling-motivated fix might not necessarily involve any direct attempt to influence the outright result, especially in team sports in which such a fix would require the co-operation (and prerequisitely the knowledge) of many people and/or perhaps would be more likely to arouse suspicion. Fixing the result of a more-particular proposition might be seen as less likely to be noticed. For example, the disgraced formerEffect of non-gambling-motivated fixing on wagering
Whenever any serious motivation for teams to manipulate results becomes apparent to the general public, there can be a corresponding effect on betting markets as honest gamblers speculate in good faith as to the chance such a fix might be attempted. Some bettors might choose to avoid wagering on such a fixture while others will be motivated to wager on it, or alter the bet they would otherwise place. Such actions will invariably affect odds and point spreads even if there is no contact whatsoever between teams and the relevant gambling interests. The rise of betting exchanges has allowed such speculation to play out in real time.History
Evidence of match fixing has been found throughout recorded history, and the history of match fixing is closely related to the history of illegal gambling. The ancient Olympic Games were almost constantly dealing with allegations of sportsperson, athletes accepting bribery, bribes to lose a competition and city-states which often tried to manipulate the outcome with large amounts of money. These activities went on despite the oath each athlete took to protect the integrity of the events and the severe punishment sometimes inflicted on those who were caught. Chariot racing was also dogged by race fixing throughout its history. By the end of the 19th century gambling was illegal in most jurisdictions, but that did not stop its widespread practice. Boxing soon became rife with fighters "taking a dive", likely due to boxing being a sport involving individual competitors, which makes its matches much easier to fix without getting caught. Baseball also became plagued by match fixing despite efforts by the National League to stop gambling at its games. Matters finally came to a head in 1919 when eight members of the Chicago White Sox threw the World Series (seeJapan
is a Japanese language, Japanese word meaning a cheating activity which is committed at places where a match, fight, game, competition, or other contest, is held, where the winner and loser are decided in advance by agreement of the competitors or related people. It is believed that the word ''Yaocho'' came from the name ("Chobei") of the owner of a vegetable stand (''yaoya'') during the Meiji period. Created from the first syllable of ''Yaoya'' and ''chobei'', the word ''yaocho'' was created for a nickname of Chobei. Chobei had a friend called "Isenoumi Godayu" (7th Isenoumi stable, Isenoumi stablemaster) with whom he played the game Go (board game), Igo, who had once been a sumo wrestler "Kashiwado Sogoro" (former ''shikona'': "Kyonosato") and now was a "''toshiyori''" (a stablemaster of sumo). Although Chobei was a better Igo player than Isenoumi, he sometimes lost games on purpose to please Isenoumi so that Isenoumi would continue to buy merchandise from his shop. Afterward, once people knew of his cheating, they started to use ''yaocho'' as a word meaning any decision to win/lose a match in advance by negotiation etc. with the expectation of secondary profit, even though the match seems to be held seriously and fairly. Economists using statistical analysis have shown very strong evidence of bout fixing in sumo wrestling. Most of the motive for match fixing is helping each other's ranking to keep their salary higher, according to Keisuke Itai. For example, wrestlers in ''jūryō'' (the second tier) desperately try to avoid finishing the tournament makekoshi, with a losing record (7–8 or worse) and exchange or buy the match result, or their salary would be nothing, 0 yen, with the participation wage of 150,000 yen every two months if they finish the tournament with a losing record, and their ranking would go down to ''makushita'' (third level) and only participate in seven matches, the lesser ranking from ''jūryō'' in which one can earn 1,036,000 yen monthly with some prizes and a full 15-match tournament. The sumo association appears to make a distinction between ''yaocho'' (the payment of money to secure a result) and ''koi-ni-yatta mukiryoku zumo'' (the deliberate performance of underpowered sumo in which an opponent simply lays a match down without exchange of money). The intricacies of Japanese culture, which include subordination of individual gain to the greater good and knowing how to read a situation without the exchange of words (I know my opponent's score, he needs help, and I should automatically give it to him) mean that the latter is almost readily accepted in the sumo world and is also nearly impossible to prove.Cricket
Some of the most notorious instances of match fixing have been observed in international cricket. In 2000 the Delhi police intercepted a conversation between a blacklisted bookie and the South African cricket team, South African cricket captain Hansie Cronje in which they learnt that Cronje accepted money to throw matches. A court of inquiry was set up and Cronje admitted to throwing matches. He was immediately banned from all cricket. He also named Saleem Malik (Pakistani cricket team, Pakistan), Mohammed Azharuddin and Ajay Jadeja (Indian cricket team, India) as fellow match fixers. Jadeja was banned for 4 years. Although Cronje was a kingpin of betting, following untimely death in 2002 most of his fixing partners escaped law enforcement agencies. Earlier in 1998, Australian cricket team, Australian players Mark Waugh and Shane Warne were fined for revealing information about the 'weather' to John the bookmaker controversy, a bookmaker. The fourth Test cricket, Test of Pakistan national cricket team, Pakistan's Pakistani cricket team in England in 2010, summer 2010 cricket tour of England contained several incidents of spot fixing, involving members of Pakistan team deliberately bowling no-balls at specific points to facilitate betting through bookmakers. Following investigation, three Pakistani players were banned from cricket and sentenced to prison terms. Similarly, in Indian Premier League in 2013, S. Sreesanth and two other players were banned by the Board of Control for Cricket in India for alleged match fixing. Sreesanth's ban was briefly lifted, but the Kerala High Court upheld the ban in 2017. In July 2017, ex-Sri Lanka national cricket team, Sri Lanka cricket captain Arjuna Ranatunga alleged that the 2011 Cricket World Cup Final match between India and Sri Lanka had been fixed. The investigation was dropped by Sri Lankan authorities and the International Cricket Council in 2020 due to a lack of evidence.Football
In 2006 the European football powerhouse Juventus F.C. drew a match against Underdog, minnows Rimini in a fixed encounter. Following investigation, Juventus Manager Luciano Moggi, Italian Football President Franco Carraro and Vice-president Innocenzo Mazzini had to resign In 2010 several Korean footballers were punished by FIFA with a lifelong ban from all sports for fixing several matches in the Korean League Cup. During the subsequent investigation, many top Korean players were also found to be involved in match fixing after the initial discovery.Professional wrestling
In professional wrestling, most matches have predetermined results; however, as it is an open secret that professional wrestling is staged, it is not considered match fixing. Up until the 1920s, professional wrestling was considered a legitimate sport. This did not endure as professional wrestling became identified with modern theatrics or ''admitted fakery'', moving away from actual competition. The "worked", known as "kayfabe" nature of wrestling led critics to deem it an illegitimate sport, particularly in comparison to boxing, amateur wrestling, and, more recently, mixed martial arts. Many individuals began to doubt the legitimacy of wrestling after the retirement of Frank Gotch in 1913. As wrestling's popularity was diving around the same time that Major League Baseball Black Sox Scandal, had its own legitimacy issues, wrestling started to take on a more worked approach while still appearing as a legitimate sport, beginning with the Gold Dust Trio of the 1920s. Even after the formation of the National Wrestling Alliance in 1948, wrestling continued to have legitimacy issues. Nevertheless, wrestling was still regulated by state athletic commissions in theQuiz shows
In the 1950s, the producers of several televised quiz shows in the United States were found to have engaged in match fixing, as part of an effort to boost viewer interest and Audience measurement, ratings. Geritol, the sponsor of the new quiz show ''Twenty-One (game show), Twenty-One'', showed concerns over the poor performance of its early contestants—which they felt were causing the show to trail behind its main competitor, ''The $64,000 Question''. At the time, the majority of television programs were effectively controlled by their single sponsors, with broadcasters only providing studios and airtime. Geritol demanded that Barry & Enright Productions make changes to the show, which included the outright choreography of contestants around pre-determined outcomes. The most infamous example of this strategy came when champion Herbert Stempel was to be replaced by Charles Van Doren—a Columbia University English teacher whom the producers felt would be more popular with viewers. To build anticipation for the episode where Van Doren would defeat Stempel, the first episode of their match was played to three tie games. Winners of matches received $500 for every point within their margin of victory, but this pot increased by $500 after every tie game. Promotions for the ensuing episode emphasized that they would be playing for $2,000 per-point. After one more tie game, Stempel threw the match to Van Doren by answering specific questions incorrectly. Among them, he incorrectly guessed that ''On the Waterfront'' was the winner of the Academy Award for Best Picture, Best Picture award at the 28th Academy Awards. The correct answer was ''Marty (film), Marty'', which was also one of Stempel's favorite films. The cancellation of the competing quiz ''Dotto'' under similar allegations prompted a U.S. government investigation into both it and ''Twenty-One''. The investigation similarly revealed that Revlon—the sponsor of ''The $64,000 Question''—had instructed the show's producers to Game balance, balance its questions more favorably towards contestants they felt would be more popular among viewers (although it stopped short of outright rigging games to the same extent as ''Twenty-One''). The scandal resulted in regulations being implemented to prohibit the rigging of game shows and other contests by broadcasters.Esports
Match fixing controversies have also emerged in Esports, including in particular ''Counter-Strike: Global Offensive'', ''Dota 2'', ''League of Legends'', ''Overwatch (video game), Overwatch'', and ''StarCraft''. Major scandals have included those of the Counter-Strike match fixing scandal, iBuyPower and NetcodeGuides.com ''Counter-Strike'' teams, where it was found that the iBuyPower team had received around $10,000 worth of items via skin gambling—the practice of wagering ''CS:GO'' weapon Skin (computing)#Video gaming, skins in a similar manner to sports betting, based on real-world market values—after they threw matches in a major tournament. South Korean ''StarCraft II'' player Life (gamer), Life was also convicted of having partaken in match fixing.Protection against manipulation
By monitoring the pre-match betting markets it is sometimes possible to detect planned match fixing. It is also possible to detect on-going match manipulation by looking at the in-game betting markets. Several federations have employed services that provide such systems for detecting match manipulation. Prior to the 2016 MLB season, Major League Baseball (MLB) hired Genius Sports, a sports technology company specialising in integrity, to monitor the betting patterns on all of their games. In addition, several federations run integrity tours where players and officials participate in educational workshops on how match fixing work and how they are prevented.See also
* Bookmaker * Convention on the Manipulation of Sports Competitions * List of match fixing incidents * Match fixing in association football * Betting controversies in cricket, Match fixing in cricket ** List of cricketers banned for match fixing * Organized crime * Over–under (both teams combined score betting) * Point shaving (attempts to manipulate a match score based on the point spread) * Sports betting * Spot-fixing (attempts to manipulate certain portions of a match) * Team ordersNotes
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Match Fixing Match fixing, Organized crime activity Sports law