The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and Sportradar, a leading sports data services provider have renewed one of the longest standing integrity partnerships in world sport.
In terms of the agreement the relationship, which commenced in 2013, will run at least until the continental governing body holds its Asia Cup China 2023 tournament. The agreement will also see Sportradar continue to support the AFC Integrity Unit with the Intelligence and Investigation Services (I&I) which has proved to be extremely important against match-fixing in the region in an endeavor to build on the work that the two bodies have done over the past seven years.
The AFC and Sportradar have created a powerful integrity partnership that commenced in 2013 which has been defined by the identification of and strong action against match-fixing and has seen the AFC Integrity Unit become of the global leaders in sports integrity.
Noteworthy accomplishments from the partnership include the AFC Integrity Unit last year issuing life bans against four Central Asian players for match-fixing within AFC competitions in 2017 and 2018.
Shaikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa, AFC President, said that Sportradar have been a valued and trusted partner of theirs since 2013 and they are very proud of what they have accomplished together to help protect the integrity of Asian football.
He added that they cannot, however, stand still and become complacent and that is why their co-operation has evolved over the years to include detection, safeguarding, prevention and reporting measures.
Carsten Koerl, Chief Executive at Sportradar, added that from day one, the AFC have endeavored to make integrity their top priority, and this has led to many positive results, including a clear decline in match-fixing issues across Asia.