Fears under-paid World Cup gamers will attempt to repair matches and ‘promote their video games’
Sports corruption investigator Declan Hill says footballers from poorer nations may be tempted to take bungs at summer soccer showpiece because they are not paid enough to play
A man is sitting on a laptop in a dark room with lights shining down on it.internet concept addiction.topview.
Footballers from poorer countries will try to fix matches at the World Cup, an organised crime expert has warned.
Corruption boffin Declan Hill said some players may be tempted to take bungs because they are not paid enough to play at next month’s summer soccer showpiece in the US, Mexico and Canada.
He said America’s ‘no promotion-no relegation’ sporting climate made the tournament ripe for corruption – particularly for teams with little hope of progressing beyond the first round.
Hill, an associate professor of investigations at the University of New Haven, in Connecticut, US, has an Oxford University doctorate after spending years probing corruption in multiple sports, including football, tennis and the National Hockey League.
He told the Crime Waves podcast: “The teams whose administrations are corrupt and are underpaying their players will sell their final games in the opening round.
“In the match-fixers’ words: ‘So after the first two games they will surely be relegated. It means if they lose, it doesn’t matter. They need to take the money and will fix it for us.’
“The players on some teams at the FIFA World Cup do not get paid. They should get paid.
“FIFA allocates every participating national federation millions of dollars to pay for their teams’ travel logistics, hotels, salaries for coaches, players, masseurs, cooks, physiotherapists, etc.
“The national federations are supposed to negotiate in good faith with their players for a fair allocation of the money. After all the fans watch the games to see the players, not some out-of-shape football executive.
“Most federations find fair agreements with their players but some of them, the executives of their National Football Association just pocket the cash and give the players cliches about ‘national development’ or ‘your work is making our youth program far stronger’ or ‘our whole country thanks you’.”
Professor Hill claimed the upcoming tournament is ripe for match-fixing.
“The official line is that the fixers are the unluckiest tourists in the world – yes, they come to all these different tournaments but they never succeed,” he said.
“Privately, almost everyone in the inside-FIFA power world knows that the fixers sometimes succeed.
“Match-fixing at the World Cup is easy.”
The tournament has been hit by fixing allegations before.
In 1982, West Germany and Austria played a game on June 25 known as the Disgrace of Gijón due to accusations both teams had fixed it
FIFA has approved record prize money of £539m for this summer’s tournament – including £37m for the winning team. But some nations have warned the costs of attending could leave them out of pocket.
Some European teams are worried they could lose money – let alone football minnows. One FA worked out it will lose a considerable amount if its team goes out in the group stage or early in the knockout phase.
FIFA has reduced the daily allowance of £630 it paid in Qatar 2022 for each member of a national team’s delegation to £443 a day for this summer’s tournament.
One national FA said that could cost it £370,000 if its team stayed at the tournament for a month.
Travel costs are higher because of the vast distances involved compared to Qatar.
Changes in exchange rates compared to four years ago mean prize money awarded in US dollars now translates to less in European currencies.
They also face high tax rates.
The vast cost of World Cup tickets is also hitting associations which offer them to families and friends of players.
Footballers that do get paid only pocket a fraction of their club salaries.
All 48 teams that qualified for this World Cup will receive £1.1m to cover preparation costs plus at least £6.7m. But individual federations can split it as they choose.
FIFA had not responded to a request for comment.
