The Danish football association (DBU) has criticised an anti-match-fixing bill, presented to the Danish Parliament by Danish Culture Minister Marianne Jelved (pictured) on 14 January, for not doing enough to combat the problem. The bill proposes the criminalisation of corruption in sport and makes government funding of sport conditional on sporting authorities fighting match-fixing. It also authorises the Ministry of Culture to set up a national platform in partnership with the Danish Sporting Confederation (DIF), gambling operators and the police to coordinate efforts against match-fixing.

“The DBU consider match-fixing to be the biggest threat to Danish football and Danish sport in general”, said DBU Chairman Jesper Moller in a 26 January statement. “Therefore, the DBU support the joint government action against match-fixing and are happy to contribute to both solving cases and providing information…the new bill is a step in the right direction, but it is not enough. There should be a number of additional measures so that together, we can fight match-fixing as effectively as possible.”

The additional measures proposed by the DBU include the following:
• making betting on matches in which you are involved a criminal offence;
• a six-year penalty for bribery in sport rather than the one year penalty proposed;
• a clear obligation for sports organisations and gambling operators to share information;
• a special match-fixing court with expertise in this area;
• All levels of sport to be covered, rather than just the top tier.

The DBU already prohibits those under its jurisdiction from betting on football, as do many other national football associations. The Scottish FA last Thursday announced that it is investigating whether Rangers’ goalkeeper Steve Simonsen breached its rules by betting on football matches.

The Danish government’s bill is underpinned by a September 2014 report, running to over 100 pages, which details the threat presented by match-fixing in Denmark. The report, currently only available in Danish, found that most forms of match-fixing are covered by Denmark’s Criminal Code, however a loophole exists whereby bribery takes place, but not for financial gain (i.e. if players are coerced into match-fixing using other means).

Under the proposals, standard employment contracts in sport must contain information about sanctions for match-fixing. The Danish Gambling Authority will also administer a requirement for gambling operators to ensure that employees are adequately educated about possible approaches by match-fixers. At present, a timetable for the bill is unknown.