In southern Europe and a fresh investigation has found that a lack of effective governance concerning non-competitive games of football is leaving such ‘friendly’ contests vulnerable to instances of match-fixing.

According to the Combating Match Fixing in Club Football Non-Competitive Matches probe published by European Gaming Media and Events, over 250 non-competitive soccer games involving European clubs turned up suspicious betting activities between 2016 and 2020. This survey conducted by the University of Nicosia Research Foundation with financial support from the European Commission’s Erasmus+ program surveyed 700 football players in Malta, Greece and Cyprus and also determined that 26.5% of these respondents had participated in a ‘friendly’ game in which the resul…...