Potential corruption and match-fixing at the World Cup is aided by corrupt national football association officials, says Declan Hill in this 2018 FIFA World Cup curtain raiser. FIFA’s ‘often odd’ attitude towards these officials protects the fixers, he says and points to three factors that characterise matches vulnerable to match-fixing.

The Independent Review Panel investigating corruption in tennis released its interim report at a press conference on Wednesday. The final report is expected later this year.

In a new book, Swedish journalists and authors Jens Littorin and Magnus Svenungsson reveal that match-fixing is prevalent in Sweden and that a passive approach towards the problem is partly to blame.

Albania’s leading football club, Skenderbeu, is facing allegations of match manipulation on a “stunning global scale” to obtain betting profits.

Athletes have a variety of reasons to fix matches. Play the Game 2017 examined the incentives of the fixers, and discussed new thinking on how to combat the practice.

Discussions of how to maintain sport’s integrity in an ever-more complicated sporting world were at the centre at European sports betting integrity body ESSA’s conference this week.

Despite signs of improvement, African football is suffering due to bad or corrupt refereeing and a system that has so far proved unable to secure proper education and remuneration of referees.

Cooperation is key in the fight against match-fixing, doping and hooliganism, say European sport ministers and encourage government bodies and sport to unite to improve sport governance.