March 19 - Expert in monitoring betting-related match-fixing Starlizard Integrity Services reports an increase of 161 TP3T in suspicious matches in 2023 compared to 2022.

Starlizard analyzed a total of 65,441 soccer matches out of 835 matches played in 128 different countries in the calendar year 2023. A total of 167 matches showed signs of potential verticality - 0.26% of the total number of matches analyzed.

"Counterfeiting remains soccer's ever-present danger and a plague on the sport - undermining soccer as a spectacle and compromising the fundamentals of skill, opportunity and fair play. It tarnishes the reputation of the game and all that is associated with it, including sponsored brands, and undermines the trust and enjoyment of fans. It destroys careers and robs people of their freedom," said Affy Sheikh, Head of Starlizard Integrity Services.

Analysis published in the 2023 Star Lizard Football Integrity Report showed that 167 of the 69 matches (41.3% of all suspect matches found in 2023) were played in the UEFA (Europe) region, despite the fact that the UEFA region has a much larger number of matches (37,951) compared to any other confederation region.

These matches accounted for only 0.18% of the total number of matches analyzed in the UEFA region, which is lower than the overall global percentage of 0.26%. The AFC region had the highest percentage of suspect matches at 0.47%, although 0.52% of all international matches analyzed were also assessed as suspect.

83 matches (49.7% of all suspect matches found in 2023) were played in domestic leagues below the top flight. However, the top flight is not immune to match-fixing, with Starlizard saying that nearly a quarter of all suspicious matches found fall into this category.

"Match-fixing is not a new phenomenon in soccer, but the perpetrators are enterprising, their methods are becoming more sophisticated and their activities are becoming more widespread. These criminals are attempting to exploit the betting market - particularly as it relates to lower level soccer matches - in an attempt to corrupt clubs, players and match officials into match-fixing, thus enabling fraudsters to make significant financial profits from their betting activities," said Mr. Sheikh. "Sheikh said.

"At the high end of the sophistication scale, such activity is carried out by well-established organized crime syndicates that undermine participants and officials, and are also involved in other forms of serious and organized crime. At the lower end of the scale, match-fixing can be far more sophisticated - sometimes instigated by players themselves, passing on information to friends and family and inviting them to bet on certain predetermined outcomes.

What's new, according to Starlizard, is the significant increase in suspicious betting market activity in the first half of the year alone.

"Of the 167 matches identified as suspicious in 2023, 45 (27%) involved purely betting on the first half only handicap, suggesting that match-fixers are keen to indulge in the first half of a soccer match rather than the full result. When we include matches that showed suspicious activity on both the first half only and full match markets, the number of suspicious bets involving the first half market increases to 35.3%," the report said.

In 2022, only 4.2% of dubious matches purely involve betting on first-half-only handicaps, suggesting that match-fixers are adapting.

In March 2023, Starlizard launched Komodo, a free-to-use online anti-football-fixing alert platform for sports governing bodies and law enforcement agencies around the world.Komodo notifies users of suspicious match verticals as they occur, and provides match analytics reports designed to initiate and support investigations. They are also accepted as expert evidence in courts and tribunals, including the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

"match-fixing continues to pose a significant threat to the integrity of soccer, particularly in domestic leagues. While our analysis of more than 65,000 soccer matches in 2023 shows that suspected match-fixing affects only a tiny percentage of matches globally, it also demonstrates the growing opportunity for criminals to abuse the betting market and take advantage of the difficult financial environment in which many clubs and players find themselves," Sheikh said.