Match-manipulation in football - The challenges faced in Finland

Abstract

During the last few years, an increasing number of match-manipulation cases in different sport disciplines have been detected all over the world. Also in Finland there have been, during the very recent years, cases of matchmanipulation in football. Match-manipulation is not a new phenomenon in Finland; at the turn of the millennium, some clubs in Finnish pesa¨pallo (a special type of baseball) faced allegations of betting-related match-manipulation. As a result of these allegations, twenty persons, all of them Finnish nationals, were sentenced for fraud in 2001. As a result of these very recent cases of match-manipulation in football in Finland sentences have been imposed for bribery in business. This research analyses match-manipulation in football. It aims to provide a deep and systematic analysis of the phenomena by discussing its magnitude, link to transnational organised criminality as well as the reasons and the motivations behind the phenomenon. The research identifies different modus operandi of match-manipulation, also highlighting the points of vulnerability. The emphasis of the research is on the prevention side and the focus is on Finland. The aim is on mapping and analysing the Finnish legal responses against match-manipulation, the Finnish criminal code 19.12.1889/39 and the relevant criminal case law are in the centre of the research. A short comparative part is presented to illustrate the Nordic perspective on combating the phenomenon. A hybrid of methods is used: legal dogmatics, criminological theories and criminal policy views are combined. This research works as an opener for further research of match-manipulation in Finland, in Scandinavia and also globally.