- Spot-fixing is where a player deliberately causes certain incidents in a match such as throw-ins, corner kicks or cards
- Player in Republic of Ireland immediately reported approach to Professional Footballers Association of Ireland (PFA Ireland)
- Player union advises players to download Red Button app to report match-fixing approaches
In recent months, various player unions around the world have been faced with suspicions or cases of match-fixing. Last month, a player in the League of Ireland informed the Professional Footballers Association of Ireland (PFA Ireland) about an approach.
“We are very happy that the player informed us,” said John McGuinness, PFA Ireland player executive. “Immediately after he was approached and asked to be involved with spot-fixing for a significant amount of money, he picked up the phone and reported it to Stephen McGuinness, our general secretary.
"There is no concern related to his involvement in any spot-fixing or match-fixing and we commend him on his actions in this regard.”
Spot-fixing is used to describe a player deliberately causing certain incidents in a match, for example throw-ins, corner kicks, yellow cards, or red cards.
PFA Ireland offered the player their support and referred him to the national police and the integrity officer of the Football Association of Ireland (FAI). The national police are investigating the case, which is why the union will not disclose any further details of the approach.
“We want to use this incident to remind our players and members of the Red Button app, that we have introduced in 2022,” said McGuinness.
The Red Button app allows professional football players to report match-fixing approaches safely and anonymously. Reports will automatically be transferred to local security experts, which enables them to investigate. In Republic of Ireland, the reports are transferred to the national police.
McGuinness said: “Around 200 players in our country have downloaded the app, and we urge all others who haven’t done this so far to do this as quickly as possible. For players, the app is free of charge. If they have any questions, they can contact us and we will help them.
“We advise our players not to underestimate what happened last month. Match-fixing is a very serious danger, not only to the game and the league, but also to players’ careers. Players have to be extremely careful to protect their integrity, especially taking into consideration what kind of offers the players can receive.
“In this case, the player was offered a significant amount of money. However, he proved that his own integrity and the league’s integrity were far more important. On behalf of all the players, we thank him for sharing this very strong message. We encourage all players to report any approach related to spot fixing or match fixing.”
