Convicted football match fixer Wilson Raj Perumal, who "acknowledges rigging games from Africa to the Arctic Circle for an Asian betting syndicate," said that FIFA is not "taking anything beyond the most basic steps to combat match manipulation" in int'l football, according to Matthew Karnitschnig of the WALL STREET JOURNAL. Perumal: "If FIFA really wanted to do something, they could." Perumal, who spoke from Hungary, said that he "spent the better part of two decades buying off players, referees and other officials to fix the outcomes of matches -- mostly 'friendlies,' or exhibition matches between national teams -- for an Asian gambling racket." After his arrest, he agreed to "cooperate with authorities, fingering many of his former associates and offering a glimpse into Asia's shadowy gambling network." In the wake of Perumal's disclosures, FIFA concluded in an analysis that "the world of football is under threat from organized crime and others attempting to corrupt players, referees and other officials in order to unduly influence football matches." Perumal: "FIFA could be doing a lot of things to stop international friendlies from being manipulated." FIFA's defenders say the organization has "neither the resources nor the mandate to oversee all of the interactions between its members." U.K.-based lawyer Kevin Carpenter, who specializes in sports law, said, "They're not a global football police force" (WSJ, 8/21).
