A report by The Athletic has revealed that two games from the early rounds of the UEFA Europa Conference League have been flagged over potential match fixing.
Whilst UEFA has not confirmed specific details of the matches in question, The Athletic reported that the games involved Alashkert, Arsenal Tivat, RFS and Makedonija GP.
Latvian side RFS stated on the allegations: “Our club always sets only the highest standards on the pitch and also outside the pitch. Integrity principles are the essence of football. We always prove everything on the field. The two matches against Makedonija, which we won and went to the next round, were no exception from our side. This is all we can comment.”
Both allegations focus on the second legs of the ties, where Alashkert and RFS dominated after closely fought first leg affairs.
All four teams at the centre of the allegations have been eliminated from the tournament before the group stage.
Nonetheless, UEFA revealed that in line with its policy on anti-corruption it will look to investigate the possibility of suspicious activity as it looks to eradicate the threat of match fixing from the sport.
The governing body added: “With regards to anti-match-fixing activities at national level, UEFA provides a wide range of expertise to its national associations and, in particular, to its network of Integrity Officers appointed in each national association.”
The Europa Conference League is still a fairly new tournament having only been introduced in 2021, when UEFA sought to expand the amount of teams playing in European competitions.
In 2021 UEFA underlined its commitment to integrity, signing a joint cooperation agreement with the International Federation of Professional Footballers (FIFPRO), which now facilitates ‘closer coordination’ in the fight against match-fixing to include the exchange of information received via FIFPRO’s Red Button whistleblowing app.
