Using a special data monitoring and analytics technology, the firm wishes to support the sustainability of sports events worldwide.

Since the start of the global pandemic in April 2020, more than 1,100 suspicious sports matches, with 655 found in the first nine months of 2021, have been detected by a firm that uses ‘sport integrity’ data analytics.

According to the firm’s data, soccer is the sport at most risk of corruption, with more than 500 suspicious matches detected in 2021 to date. Approximately 40% of the suspicious activities reported within domestic soccer competitions came from third-tier leagues and below, including youth level, as fixers increase their attention on lower-level matches.

After soccer, esports is next. Over 70 suspicious matches have been detected by the firm since April last year across five different game titles, with more than 40 of those suspicious matches identified since January this year.

Finally, suspicious activity has been found in tennis (37), basketball (19), table tennis (11), ice hockey (9), cricket (6) as well as volleyball, handball, and beach volleyball events.

On a global level, Europe leads with 382 suspicious matches since the start of January 2021, with Latin America (115), the Asia Pacific region (74), Africa (43), the Middle East (10) and North America (9) trailing behind.

The firm, Sportradar, monitors suspicious activity in 12 different sports across more than 70 countries worldwide. This week, it announced that it will no longer charge for the service to sports federations, sports leagues, and state authorities around the world.

According to Sportradar’s Managing Director, Andreas Krannich: “Match-fixing is evolving, and those behind it are diversifying their approach, both in the sports and competitions they target, and the way they make approaches to athletes, such as the rise in digital approaches.”

Krannich said offering the match-fixing detection service free to global sports organizations and leagues can help address the problem and support the sustainability of global sports “using data and technology for good.”