Sportradar Integrity Services – the leading global supplier of sports integrity solutions – on Tuesday announced the launch of the Universal Fraud Detection System (UFDS). Evolving from its current bet monitoring service, the UFDS will be funded by Sportradar and offered free of charge to any sports federation, or league worldwide, and will be made available in October 2021.
Since 2005, Sportradar has used its technically advanced bet monitoring system – the Fraud Detection System (FDS) – to detect match-fixing across the global sport. In 2020 alone, over 600,000 matches were monitored by the FDS across 1,000+ leagues and competitions, in 26 different sports.
Across the past 15 years, more than 5,300 matches have been classified as suspicious in the FDS, and Sportradar Integrity Services has supported over 400 successful sporting disciplinary sanctions and over 30 successful criminal convictions against those who have sought to the corrupt sport. Through this landmark commitment to safeguarding the integrity of global sport, Sportradar is making the capabilities and benefits of this established and proven bet monitoring service available to all of sport. Leading up to the launch of the UFDS in October, Sportradar will be speaking to sporting bodies so they can understand the service being offered, and will continue to upscale their technology and operation to deliver this ambitious undertaking.
Carsten Koerl, Sportradar Group CEO said: “We believe that integrity is fundamental to public confidence in sport, and that wrongdoing at any tier of competition affects all levels of sports and its fans. Today marks a very special day in the history of our company, as we announce the upcoming launch of our core bet monitoring system, at no financial charge to any sports federation or league that wants to use it. By making this significant investment in integrity via the UFDS initiative, we are demonstrating our commitment to support the sustainability of sport around the globe.
“We are continuing to upscale our technology and operation to handle this considerable undertaking, and as well as providing it to new partners we have already set about discussing and implementing the UFDS with our 70+ existing FDS partners. We are very excited to launch this exciting initiative and add to the proven track record of our integrity team, by ensuring the UFDS plays a major role in protecting the integrity of the sports we all love in the decades to come.”
The IOC’s Olympic Movement Unit on the Prevention of the Manipulation of Competitions remarked: “The IOC’s OM Unit PMC welcomes this significant commitment by its longstanding partner Sportradar. We will continue to work with all stakeholders of the Olympic Movement, notably International Federations, National Olympic Committees, and multi-sports events organizers, to reach a sustainable approach towards protecting all sports from competition manipulation.”
“It continues to be important for all sporting organizations to understand the most sustainable way to protect sports from competition manipulation. Utilizing this substantial investment by Sportradar with its proven and reliable bet monitoring of the global betting market can be the foundation for a holistic integrity program. Therefore, all sporting organizations are reminded once again, that an all-encompassing approach – as in the OM Unit PMC’s specific ’3 Pillar Strategy’ – is fundamental in order to achieve sustainable and long-term results.”
Ahmed Alosaymi, AFC’s Head of Integrity, remarked: “We have worked with Sportradar since 2013, and their data-driven approach to utilizing the latest technology, matched with the professional experience of their analysts, has allowed us to be at the forefront of ensuring integrity for football in Asia. With more matches happening each season, coupled with the tremendous popularity of Asian Football, ensuring we have the right partner that delivers us results is key. The AFC has worked very closely with Sportradar to bring several cases to justice. We believe that this move of the offering of UFDS will help protect the integrity of sports globally, giving leagues and federations at all levels the opportunity to safeguard their sport and competitions for all their stakeholders.”
