European football join forces against match-fixing

The code of conduct ‘Protect our Game’ is aiming at entering high standards of conduct in all professional layers of football with regards to match-fixing and contains five guiding principles on issues surrounding the manipulation of match results in football.

The set of integrity principles is the outcome of a working group consisting of professional stakeholders in European football including UEFA, the International Federation of Professional Footballers (FIFPro), European Professional Football Leagues (EPFL) and the European Club Association (ECA).

The working group was set up to coordinate and implement a joint proposal, ‘European Football United for the Integrity of the Game’, adopted by the Professional Football Strategy Council (PFSC) and the UEFA Executive Committee in March 2013.

"We are pleased that a code of conduct on integrity matters could be adopted thanks to excellent cooperation with the key stakeholders of the football family - the ECA, EPFL and FIFPro,” said UEFA President Michel Platini according to the press release

“We are also satisfied that the signing of the convention on the manipulation of sports competitions has begun, and that the manipulation of matches will be recognised as a criminal offence," he said, referring to the Council of Europe’s sports minister conference, where a convention on match-fixing was signed by European ministers responsible for sport.