FIFA expert says match fixing is as bad as doping

Hamburg, Nov 22 : A betting expert of football's controlling body FIFA, Wolfgang Feldner, has described match fixing as dangerous as doping.

Match-fixing for betting purposes is one of the biggest threats to football, as dangerous as doping, the German said in an interview published in Sunday's Frankfurter Allgemeine.

Feldner believes that it is very difficult to eradicate the problem. "As good as the early warning systems are, they will hardly be able to check the black market. You can't get information from betting companies that officially no longer exist."

He said that the Asian market was the biggest problem facing FIFA.

FIFA's Early Warning System (EWS) was introduced in July 2007. FIFA said they had signed contracts with 400 betting companies that have committed to informing officials of any irregular betting activities.

FIFA believes that 100 billion Euro (148 billion dollars) are placed on football bets every year.

Last year the EWS experts were commissioned by the International Olympic Committee to keep an eye on the Olympic Games for any irregular betting activity.