SvFF: 19 Swedish football matches probably settled this year

Swedish men's soccer is in many ways better than before. Economically, the clubs are growing rapidly and people are pilgrims to the stands of all Swedes. At the same time, a fight for credibility is underway with the gambling market that has entered Sweden and turn into billions every week. As a result, matches are manipulated for the sake of making money and the problem does not seem to diminish.

During the year, the Swedish Football Association investigated match fixing, in which they assessed the probability of manipulation on a four-degree scale: green (not likely), yellow (not unlikely), orange (likely), red (very likely). A total of 47 matches have been investigated - 19 are likely or very likely to be manipulated according to the investigation.

- It is very serious that we are forced to investigate up to 50 matches because there may have been match fixing, says Sjöstrand.

The federation has investigated matches from allsvenskan down to division 3, as well as in the Swedish Cup, U21 allsvenskan and training matches. Most matches concern Division 2, but all Swedish elements are also included here. Five suspected matches concern yellow cards and corners in the highest divisions.

In the majority of matches where deviating odds movements have been recorded, over 3.5 goals have been played, which means there will be four goals or more in the match.

- Then of course there are these odd match events, from you playing on yellow cards or corners, which also contribute to this problem because there the individual can affect, says Sjöstrand.

The investigation shows that it is difficult to go from suspicious matches to suspected individuals.

What is needed to slow this development?

- First and foremost, it needs a clear regulatory framework. We must have the help of decision-makers and authorities to limit the supply of games. It is totally unacceptable what we are seeing now. Then I talk not only about football but sports in general because it is about our integrity, says Sjöstrand.

- Another important and decisive factor will be that the actors working with this problem, such as the police authority and the gaming company, are allowed to share information. For now, everyone is sitting on information and it makes it difficult to solve the whole puzzle. When there are discrepancies, the gaming companies must immediately report, there is no waiting for a year, it must be dealt with immediately and then there must be a gaming authority that handles this.

What can the football movement do?

- We do a lot today. I have a couple of services that are forced to work on this. We really want to do less, but then we need help limiting the range of games and ensuring that there is effective management in sharing information. There are two incredibly basic things that need to be addressed immediately. It's going too slow.

About fifteen matches have been handed over to the police.