AFE President Luis Manuel Rubiales Sounds Off On Subject of LFP Match-Fixing

Spanish Footballers Association (AFE) President Luis Manuel Rubiales discussed match-fixing and his thoughts on how common the practice has been within the Spanish Football League (LFP), according to Sergio Fernández of MARCA. On the subject of players who have claimed they have witnessed match-fixing, Rubiales said, "Since '10, the AFE has made players aware that this is a crime, made them aware of this fact, and also that betting in competitions in which they take part is a crime." After the attempt to increase awareness did not eliminate the problem of match-fixing, Rubiales decided to open a line of communication that players could use anonymously. Rubiales: "And so we decided to set up a telephone number available to all our members, in which their anonymity was guaranteed. We didn't receive any phone calls, either. And so, this third year we have started to work intensely with La Liga, and also for the first time, with the police" (MARCA, 6/1).