One-fifth of football players and one-seventh of basketball players either know or suspect that they have participated in fixed matches. More than half of surveyed football players and almost a third of basketball players think that it is a common practise, but the majority do not consider it as an important issue. At the same time the studies conducted by the Transparency International Lithuanian Chapter show that the majority of sports fans would stop supporting teams and watching broadcasts of matches if they found out about prior agreements.
According to the data collected from the survey of Lithuanian football and basketball players, 15% of football and 20,5% of basketball players have been personally approached to participate in agreements to fix matches. 28% of football players and 44% of basketball players have heard that their peers took part in such agreements.
According to surveyed athletes, usually the offers to participate in match-fixing come from teammates (28,4%), former colleagues (24%) and owners of sports clubs (18,4%). 13,9% of all respondents mentioned bookmakers (betting companies) and 7,5% indicated coaches.
42,1% of basketball and 38% of football players surveyed alleged hearing that their colleagues came under pressure at least once to enter into dishonest agreements. Both football and basketball players indicate that sportsmen participate in such agreements for financial reasons: the desire to earn extra (52%), a poor personal financial situation (16%), delays of wages (13%).
As far as the majority of participants in the survey know, athletes quite often bet on their own matches (42,4%) and also matches played by other teams (67,2%) at the bookmakers.
The surveyed athletes think that the responsibility for sport problems as well as the duty to address them rest primarily on the federations. The residents of Lithuania would additionally include the Department of Physical Education and Sports Under the Government of the Republic of Lithuania on the list of those responsible.
According to the data of a representative survey of Lithuanian residents, integrity and honesty in sports is important to 68% of those surveyed. Upon finding out of existing match-fixing agreements, the majority would resort to informal (social) sanctions: 60% would stop supporting the participating teams, 51,2% would stop watching the broadcasts of matches, 18,3% would stop buying tickets to sports matches, 12% would stop betting at the bookmakers.
TI Lithuania commissioned the private limited liability company “VISEO” to conduct an aggregate survey of professional Lithuanian basketball and football players by way of direct interview, where available. The survey was carried out in December of 2013 with 100 football players and 259 basketball players participating. The representative survey of Lithuanian residents was also commissioned by TI Lithuania and carried out in October-November of 2013 by “VISEO”.
The research was financed by the European Commission (EC) in accordance with the project No. EAC-2012-0568 “Staying on side: How to stop match fixing”.
For more information, please contact: Sergejus Muravjovas, +370 689 97579, +370 5 212 6951, sergejus@transparency.lt