The problems with match-fixing in Swedish sports are growing but are not yet at a worrying state in handball and the Swedish Handball Association (SHF) says it has a good overview of the situation.
“Our sport has been relatively spared so far,” Adam Engström, integrity officer at the SHF, tells Handbollskanalen.
Handball is far behind the sports that have the biggest problems with match-fixing, even though the hidden data is high in sports that do not work as actively against match-fixing as, for example, football does.
“We have had a few suspicious cases, not at all on the same level as football or tennis,” says Engström.
The Swedish Handball Association has created an organisation around match-fixing which, in addition to Engström, includes Swedish Elite Handball’s CEO Peter Gentzel and SHF Secretary General Robert Wedberg.
“If, for example, an association has suspicions of something illegal, it is primarily one of the three of us that they should contact. After that, a group is quickly established that makes a decision and takes a position on whether this is something we need to address at the federal level. But there is nothing we have had reason to take that far since I started in this role.
What does the work at SHF against match-fixing look like right now?
“We work a lot with education together with our new main sponsor ATG (Swedish state-owned betting company, Handbollskanalen’s clarification) who are very active in this issue. Together with ATG, we will begin a long-term project where we teach our practitioners more about match-fixing.”
Is this not something you have worked with before?
“We had similar work with our previous main sponsor. A number of years ago, we trained all 18-year-olds participating in the youth national championship. It is above all the young players we want to give an insight and understanding of what can happen. Then we also work with the Swedish Sports Confederation (RF) regarding development work. It’s a lot about proactive work and sharing knowledge.”
You have previously had the chance to jump on RF’s education program but chose to say no. Why?
“I was part of the reference group when the training program was developed. But when RF invited us to the first round of training, we chose to wait because we first wanted to get started with our investment in the ATG Swedish Cup together with ATG. It is better to wait and then be able to commit to it wholeheartedly. But it is very interesting for us in the future. Now, I have not gone through all of the sections in the education, but as I have understood it, it is structured so that it is about learning rather than answering correctly.”
As mentioned earlier, the problems with match-fixing in Swedish handball are not widely spread, something Adam Engström also points out.
“Since I started with this in 2017, we have investigated one formal case and then it was an investigation into illegal betting. It was about a player in an Allsvenskan club and who belonged to the club but not the A-team squad. This is a sign that the problem is small.
“We have also had other matches that we have controlled. An example is a strange steal at the end where a player wanted to get a touch of the ball and then his team went on a counter-attack instead of giving it back. It was strange, but there is nothing to suggest that there was an unusual game pattern.
How did it end in the case of the player in the Allsvenskan club?
“The disciplinary committee handled the case and came to the conclusion that the player’s position and role were not so important in that case. The player in question did not belong to the A-team but to their partner team and had therefore only played a single match with the team concerned.”
According to Handbollskanalen’s information, there must have been another concrete case where a Swedish team was involved, in a European match. Engström confirms that this is the case.
“But that case was not handled by us. As it was an international match, it was reported to EHF. It was an away match and not linked to anything that the Swedish team would have done.”
How worried are you that we will get more cases of match-fixing in handball in the coming years?
“It will be pure speculation really, but criminal organisations are looking for easy ways to get money and with low risk and where penalties are low. That’s where sport comes into the picture. Tennis and football are under pressure.
“If you gamble a lot of money in handball, the bookmakers will flag it. On the other hand, those who want to bet on handball can do so with many different bookmakers, including foreign ones, and then with low stakes to increase the volume without it being visible. It is easier to invest more money in football than it is in handball, but the day football closes all the gaps, those who deal with this kind of thing will look elsewhere and it is possible that they will end up in handball.”
In other words, the Swedish Handball Association and Swedish handball, in general, have the challenge to prevent handball from being hit hard as football and tennis are now.
“Our ambition is to build our organisation even more. We have started this work long-term where we want a clearer order than we have now. I regularly sit with other sports and RF to discuss things. It is a way to exchange experiences and something that can help us in the future,” concludes Adam Engström.
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