How to fix a football match

Most people can only wonder how you go about fixing a football match. Someone who knows is Canadian journalist and academic Declan Hill. He has spent years researching the subject and at the Play the Game conference in 2005 he let participants in on some of the secrets.

To fix a match without getting caught takes expert knowledge of human nature in order to convince players or referees to help get the right result. The approaching of those individuals is the very key to successful match fixing, according to Declan Hill.

In an example of good match fixing, Hill revealed how Malaysian match fixers had succeeded in fixing up to 90 per cent of the matches in the national football league for several years in the early 1990’s.

The Malaysian scandal came to an end but Declan Hill was impressed by the expertise of the network of fixers.¨

“There are half a dozen master fixers, and these guys are brilliant. If you want experts on human nature, these guys are really good,” he said.

Hill’s example of poor match fixing came from Turkey. The fixer was taped during an approach of one of the key players because at the time people had already gotten word that fixing was about to take place. The whole story ended in a tragedy as the person who attempted to set up the fixers with the tape recorder was shot down, and the people responsible for the crime remain unknown.

Malaysian example: How to fix a match 

Connect with the player.

Establish a relationship.

Approach a player when he is vulnerable.

Isolate the player psychologically.

Establish a bond.

Build trust.

Pay the player quickly.

Approach only one player. Then let that player get the rest of the team in on the idea.

Turkish example: How NOT to fix a match

Bet a huge amount of money on one very improbable result, thereby drawing attention to the foul play.

Approach a number of players individually to try and get the result.

Show them money, but do not give them any before they have fixed the match.

Shoot the guy who tries to uncover the fix.