The Ministry of Youth and Sports, the National Platform for Sports Integrity, the National Olympic Committee, and the National Anti-Doping Center held a meeting with representatives of UPL and PFL clubs on countering manipulation in sports.
Photo: uaf.uaThe meeting was attended by representatives of the UAF, Premier League clubs, the Professional Football League, the Ukrainian Futsal Association, the Ukrainian Beach Football Association, and members of the National Platform for Sports Integrity and the National Anti-Doping Center.
The Minister of Youth and Sports of Ukraine, Matviy Bidny, the president of the NOC of Ukraine, Vadym Hutsayt, and the deputy general secretary of the UAF, Vitaliy Danylchenko, addressed the attendees with welcoming remarks. Additionally, Stephanie Eichenberger, a representative of UEFA, joined the meeting online.
The main topics of the meeting were the issues of match-fixing and manipulation of sports competitions at both national and international levels, the activities of the National Platform for Sports Integrity, the state of anti-doping work in Ukrainian football, the activities of the UAF Committee on Ethics and Fair Play regarding sports ethics and integrity, as well as best practices for combating corruption and match-fixing.
Oleksiy Perevezen, deputy head of the interdepartmental working group «National Platform for Sports Integrity» and the first vice-president of the NOC of Ukraine, together with the secretary of the National Platform, Nataliya Radchuk, outlined the key work directions of the platform. These directions cover the exchange of information with sports federations and international cooperation within the Network of National Platforms for Sports Integrity (Group of Copenhagen).
Andriy Nekrutov, an expert from the National Platform for Sports Integrity and a member of the UAF Committee on Ethics and Fair Play, emphasized the joint responsibility of government bodies, sports federations, clubs, athletes, and betting companies in combating the manipulation of competition results.
Furthermore, the UAF Ethics Committee, led by its head Andriy Davydenko, believes that monitoring betting activities is extremely important because manipulation is not always visible on the field but almost always leaves a trace in the betting.
The monitoring system analyzes various nuances:
1. Betting behavior.
2. Patterns and models.
3. Account data.
4. Some systems (e. g., UFDS with gambling operator integration) receive non-personalized, but very important data (whether the account is associated with a history of suspicious activity; whether the bets are placed only on one type of outcome or one club; whether bets are actively placed on markets with high corruption risk).
5. Geography and timing.
Thus, the system analyzes not only the bets and odds but also when, where, and how the bets are made. Based on this, a signal of «suspicious activity» is formed. This is not proof of guilt but the first alarm bell that triggers further study and investigation.
Throughout the year, the UAF Committee on Ethics and Fair Play studied all available systems, held meetings with providers, received commercial offers, and evaluated coverage and tools.
The committee uses several channels simultaneously:
— via FIFA/UEFA units — operational access to UFDS data;
— through the national platform’s partnership with the IBIA — a direct channel to over 90 key bookmakers;
— through the network of national platforms of the Council of Europe — rapid international exchange of information.
In parallel, committee representatives are studying the market for new technologies and analyzing the ambitious option of creating their own Ukrainian monitoring system with integrated AI.
Finally, the meeting participants agreed that monitoring betting is not about numbers and odds, but about protecting every honest athlete, coach, referee, and club.
Anastasiya Bilenko, the secretary of the Committee on Ethics and Fair Play, presented the main principles of the UAF Code of Ethics, as well as examples of disciplinary decisions regarding violators of the principles of fair play and ethics.
Special attention was also given to the fight against doping in football.
Serhiy Popyk, director of the National Anti-Doping Center, spoke about the cooperation between FIFA, UEFA, UAF, and NADTs, as well as about existing agreements regulating their joint work in the anti-doping field.
Additionally, Yulia Grechko, a representative of FIFPRO, presented the Red Button mobile application, which allows professional footballers to anonymously report attempts of bribery or manipulations with match results.
