‘Freakonomics meets Football Corruption’.
There is a wave of match-fixing that is threatening the very survival of sport. National police investigations are occurring in over-sixty different countries, hundreds of matches have been fixed, over one thousand players, coaches and referees have been arrested. The credibility of an entire sport - football (soccer) - is in danger, according to Michel Platini the President of UEFA.
It will destroy football, unless we fight it. To fight it, we have to understand it.
‘The Insider’s Guide to Match-Fixing in Football’ is an analysis of the motivations, the mechanisms and the methods within this modern form of fixing.
The book examines key questions like;
- Why do football players fix matches?
- Is violence used against referees and players to make them fix matches?
- How is fixing different from cheating?
- Why do some rich, strong teams bother to bribe poor, weak teams?
- Why are some games fixed, but not others?
- Why do some leagues have more match corruption than others?
The final chapter examines the most important question:
- How can an honest sports administrator prevent match-fixing?
The overarching thesis of the book is that most match-fixing is preventable. Fixing comes from key specific factors. Remove those factors and we can win the war against match-fixing.
“Only Declan Hill could write a book with this level of academic rigor and foundation of investigative journalism. I expect Dr. Hill's new book to be the seminal work in the sports corruption space and I have adopted it for use in my PhD seminar on forensic sports law analytics.” - Ryan M. Rodenberg, JD/PhD, Florida State University
“Declan Hill has broken new ground academically, imparting much-needed order and clarity to the murky world of global match-fixing. This is an important book for anyone who cares about the integrity of sport, and it's an indispensable book for those involved in sports analytics" - Marc Carinci, Managing Director, Sports Gambling Data Services
"Tenacious, factual and with an unrivalled understanding of the current threat being posed to the integrity of sport, Declan Hill consistently challenges those who stand idly by." - Senator Cecilia Keaveney, Former Head of the Council of Europe’s Task Force on Match-Fixing
"Declan Hill's new book is an absolute must-read for every thinking fan of the beautiful game on the planet. Being part of Declan's team preparing the book I know how much effort and research Declan invested in it. Declan's passion for our game, professional courage and expertise pours from every page." - Steven Powell, Director of Policy, Football Supporters' Federation
"A new book from one of the best investigative writers on the subject of match and spot fixing in football. The challenge to the integrity of sport from sporting fraud is growing exponentially. This new book documents that cancerous expansion. The author is a renowned expert who focuses on football with the precision of a laser beam. A must read!" - Professor Richard McLaren, Faculty of Law, University of Western Ontario, London, Canada
"The Insider’s Guide to Match-Fixing in Football is an education for scholars and students of organized crime and a wake-up call for sports administrators. Rigorously researched but accessibly written, this book makes sense of match fixing in straightforward, rational terms. Such confirms Declan Hill as both master storyteller and global authority on the corruption threatening the beautiful game. Not to be missed." - James A. Densley, PhD, author of How Gangs Work: An Ethnography of Youth Violence
There is a wave of match-fixing that is threatening the very survival of sport. National police investigations are occurring in over-sixty different countries, hundreds of matches have been fixed, over one thousand players, coaches and referees have been arrested. The credibility of an entire sport - football (soccer) - is in danger, according to Michel Platini the President of UEFA.
It will destroy football, unless we fight it. To fight it, we have to understand it.
‘The Insider’s Guide to Match-Fixing in Football’ is an analysis of the motivations, the mechanisms and the methods within this modern form of fixing.
The book examines key questions like;
- Why do football players fix matches?
- Is violence used against referees and players to make them fix matches?
- How is fixing different from cheating?
- Why do some rich, strong teams bother to bribe poor, weak teams?
- Why are some games fixed, but not others?
- Why do some leagues have more match corruption than others?
The final chapter examines the most important question:
- How can an honest sports administrator prevent match-fixing?
The overarching thesis of the book is that most match-fixing is preventable. Fixing comes from key specific factors. Remove those factors and we can win the war against match-fixing.
“Only Declan Hill could write a book with this level of academic rigor and foundation of investigative journalism. I expect Dr. Hill's new book to be the seminal work in the sports corruption space and I have adopted it for use in my PhD seminar on forensic sports law analytics.” - Ryan M. Rodenberg, JD/PhD, Florida State University
“Declan Hill has broken new ground academically, imparting much-needed order and clarity to the murky world of global match-fixing. This is an important book for anyone who cares about the integrity of sport, and it's an indispensable book for those involved in sports analytics" - Marc Carinci, Managing Director, Sports Gambling Data Services
"Tenacious, factual and with an unrivalled understanding of the current threat being posed to the integrity of sport, Declan Hill consistently challenges those who stand idly by." - Senator Cecilia Keaveney, Former Head of the Council of Europe’s Task Force on Match-Fixing
"Declan Hill's new book is an absolute must-read for every thinking fan of the beautiful game on the planet. Being part of Declan's team preparing the book I know how much effort and research Declan invested in it. Declan's passion for our game, professional courage and expertise pours from every page." - Steven Powell, Director of Policy, Football Supporters' Federation
"A new book from one of the best investigative writers on the subject of match and spot fixing in football. The challenge to the integrity of sport from sporting fraud is growing exponentially. This new book documents that cancerous expansion. The author is a renowned expert who focuses on football with the precision of a laser beam. A must read!" - Professor Richard McLaren, Faculty of Law, University of Western Ontario, London, Canada
"The Insider’s Guide to Match-Fixing in Football is an education for scholars and students of organized crime and a wake-up call for sports administrators. Rigorously researched but accessibly written, this book makes sense of match fixing in straightforward, rational terms. Such confirms Declan Hill as both master storyteller and global authority on the corruption threatening the beautiful game. Not to be missed." - James A. Densley, PhD, author of How Gangs Work: An Ethnography of Youth Violence
