By Nick Butler

Iceland and Norway, as well Denmark, Finland and Sweden have teamed up to tackle match fixing in sport ©Getty ImagesMarch 11 - A series of common principles and initiatives regarding match fixing have been announced by five Nordic sporting nations in a bid to address a "major threat to the sports world in order to safeguard the integrity of sport".


The collective pledge - undertaken by Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland and Iceland - calls for coordination as well as programmes and initiatives to tackle the issue before outlining various challenges.

A call is first made to encourage sports clubs across the five nations to educate players, coaches and other people in order to fight match fixing, before a promise is made to actively participate in national and international-level forums where the issue is being discussed.

This includes by authorities in the sports movement as well as by politicians and the betting industry. 

The pledge particularly aims to support and help national authorities who take part in the Council of Europe negotiations on a future international convention to combat the manipulation of sports competitions and to help implement the convention when it enters into force

Support is also given for a European Union regulation on online gambling that should force all betting companies to comply with gambling legislation in each member state, as well as another EU regulation limiting the type of bets which can be offered.

Match fixing is also an issue taken very seriously by the IOC under new President Thomas Bach ©Getty ImagesMatch fixing is an issue taken very seriously by the IOC under new President Thomas Bach ©Getty Images



Aiding working groups established by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to fight irregular and illegal gambling in sports events is listed as another aim.

It comes after the IOC has dedicated much rhetoric to the issue in recent months. 

A new fund has been set up to coordinate responses, while an agreement has also been signed with Interpol, which will be enforced in the Nordic nations as well as in other parts of Europe.

Nordic countries are by no means the worst offenders when it comes to match-fixing but their collective stop can be taken as an important precedent which, it is hoped, other countries will soon follow. 

The pledge concludes by specifying a number of political challenges which are prominent in the international discussions on how to fight match fixing. 

These include the question of how future initiatives will be organised, which authorities and organisations should define the agenda, and which international obligations the stakeholders can agree on,

A final question relates to how match fixing should be treated in the criminal law and whether it should be considered on the same grounds as corruption and fraud, or given its own separate criteria. 

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