The Peninsula
The 4th transnational project meeting (TPM) of ERASMUS+ Sport’ BITEFIX project was held at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuán Stadium in Seville, Spain.
The Partnership analysed the results produced thus far – namely the Guide of Best Practices on the Fight Against Match-Fixing, evaluated the progress of the project and discussed different topics such as the launch of the “Educational Program” and of the BITEFIX e-Community– “International Network of Experts on match-fixing and betting-fraud in sports”.
Lisbon’s based university ISCTE presented the Educational Program modules, the core of a comprehensive e-learning platform (IO2), and the Training Course on the exchange of information and data protection to fight match-fixing. Sevilla FC Foundation, Estoril Praia FC, Lega Pro, and Hask Mladost will be implementing this Program in the next few months.
Starlizard Integrity Services and Sorbonne University presented the methodological strategy for the BITEFIX e-Community and its accessibility by the target groups, which was approved by the partnership.
The project’s main deliverables, marked for the next 8 months, with a special focus on WP3 “Educational Program” and its e-learning platform, are:
• Launch of the BITEFIX Educational Program and e-learning as a capacity-building tool.
• Implementation of Training Courses with key stakeholders.
• Launch of the BITEFIX e-Community– “International Network of Experts on match-fixing and betting-fraud in sports” setting-up.
The BITEFIX’s 4th transnational meeting also hosted a high-level round table with all project partners and representatives from Sevilla FC, the Andalusian Government, and LA LIGA’s Sport Integrity Director, Florentino Villabona.
The discussion focused on the experience acquired, from grassroots to high-level sport, in the fight against match-fixing, as well as in the common guidelines, tools and policy recommendations that should be further disseminated and adopted in order to preserve the values of sport and the fairness of sport’s competitions.
Jose Maria Cruz de Andres, Director-General of FC Sevilla, opened the day to welcome the attendees and encourage them to continue working in Europe to further investigate matters relating to the phenomena, underlying the “importance of straight cooperation and long-term alliances to help fight match-fixing”.
Florentino Villabona, Director of Integrity at La Liga said, “Sport organisations should not lower their arms and continue working to generate knowledge and raise awareness to ensure complete and continuous rejection by a society of any type of manipulation of sports competitions.”
Francisco Felner da Costa, Estoril Praia FC, added: “As a club that is invested in providing young athletes with the best education and strong life values, Estoril Praia is highly committed with the BITEFIX project. Estoril will implement and disseminate the educational programs for all their players and organisational structure and will continuously raise awareness against match-fixing in sports.”