Every year, all players and leaders within Swedish elite football undergo training in responsible gambling and anti-match-fixing. The training programs, developed by Swedish Professional Football Leagues in collaboration with their main partner Unibet, will soon also be used in the Icelandic top league for both men and women.
“The work we do here in Sweden is starting to make waves internationally. It’s great that other countries are inspired by what we do and follow suit,” says Anders Wikström, Integrity officer at Swedish Professional Football Leagues.
The training, which is part of the extensive integrity work conducted within Swedish elite football, is undergone annually by all players and leaders. The content of the training, developed together with Unibet, aims to create a deeper understanding of the mechanisms and rules surrounding match-fixing as well as how to set boundaries for one’s own gambling.
“Since we became the main partner of Allsvenskan and Superettan, we have jointly initiated several projects to prevent gambling problems and match-fixing. The training is part of that, and the fact that it has gained international spread is proof that it is both of high quality and highly relevant. Unibet and Swedish Professional Football Leagues have together raised the level of work within responsible gambling and match-fixing within sponsorship in Sweden. We should be both happy and proud that the Icelandic leagues are adopting parts of it,” says Anders Falk, Country manager at Unibet.
The training programs are digital, which means they only need to be translated before they can be used by other countries and leagues. In Iceland, the training will be used by the clubs in the country’s top leagues for both men and women.
“In recent years, there has been an increase in betting by football players. There are examples of players betting on their own games, which is illegal. We are concerned about the situation and whether a player knows what is legal and what is not. We have conducted a survey among players in the Men’s Best League and it is clear that the vast majority of them believe that players are betting on sports games. We therefore believe it is extremely important to develop a powerful education and course about betting, betting addiction and the integrity of the game. We have had great help from the Swedish League Association and are using their courses and data. We hope that the education and the course will help us make our football community better and society as a whole,” says Birgir Johannsson, CEO of the Icelandic football league, and continues.
“Icelandic Topfootball would like to thank Svensk Professional Football Leagues very much for a pleasant and informative cooperation. We hope that this partnership will benefit both parties and improve our football community.”
