A Universal Fraud Detection System (UFDS) operated by integrity solutions provider Sportradar has detected 74 suspicious sporting matches in the Asia-Pacific region since the start of the year.
The system places Asia-Pacific third on the list of regions for suspicious activity globally behind only Europe, with 382 suspicious matches, and Latin America with 115 suspicious matches in the first nine months of 2021.
In total, Sportradar has detected 655 suspicious sports matches this year and 1,100 since the start of the global COVID-19 pandemic.
According to Sportradar’s UFDS figures, soccer is the sport at most risk of corruption with more than 500 suspicious matches detected in 2021 to date. Approximately 40% of the suspicious activities reported within domestic soccer competitions comes from third tier leagues and below, including youth level, as fixers increase their attention on lower-level matches.
Suspicious activity has also been identified in 37 tennis matches, 19 basketball games, 11 table tennis matches, 9 ice hockey games and six cricket matches.
“As our analysis shows, match-fixing is evolving and those behind it are diversifying their approach, both in the sports and competitions they target, and the way they make approaches to athletes, such as the rise in digital approaches,” said Andreas Krannich, Managing Director, Integrity Services at Sportradar.
“To help address this, Sportradar has made a significant investment to make it possible to offer the UFDS for free to global sports organisations and leagues. The reason for this is that we are committed to supporting the sustainability of global sports and using data and technology for good.”
Sportradar also noted that eSports is increasingly becoming a target for match-fixers, with over 70 suspicious matches detected by the UFDS since April last year across five different game titles, and more than 40 of those suspicious matches identified since January 2021.
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