Understanding Match-Fixing in Sport: Theory and Practice

Bringing together leading match-fixing researchers from different fields, this book offers new theoretical and applied perspectives on this persistent problem in sport and wider society.

The book explores the foundations of match-fixing from multiple viewpoints, from sociology and criminology to policy and governance, exploring topics such as the use of network governance theory, ethics and integrity, and management aspects that position match-fixing in sport’s commercial landscape. Featuring cases and data from all around the world, the book explains how match-fixing has become a prominent feature of contemporary sport, and considers the efficacy and practicability of interventions to solve these problems.

This is fascinating and important reading for any advanced student, researcher, practitioner, or policymaker with an interest in sport management, sports business, sport policy, sport development, sport law, or criminology.

Bram Constandt is Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Ghent University, Belgium, and an affiliated scholar at the University of Minnesota’s Global Institute for Responsible Sport Organizations (GIRSO), USA. His research interests include integrity management in sport, integrity issues in sport, and sport history. He also teaches on these topics at Ghent University and in two international master programmes (MAiSI and MESGO). He is a board member of ICES, Center for Ethics in Sport, a member of different academic networks on sport integrity, and a partner in multiple Erasmus+ projects on match-fixing.

Argyro Elisavet Manoli is Associate Professor at Loughborough University, UK. Her research focuses on marketing communications management and integrity in sport. Her work on sport integrity has been presented in the European Parliament, while she was also invited to deliver opening interventions in all European Commission Expert Group Meetings on Sport Integrity. She authored a policy report for the European Commission, commissioned by the European Union on corruption in sport in the European Union and has been awarded funding to conduct research on the area by funding bodies such as the British Academy, the Economic Social Research Council, and Erasmus+. She also leads the Loughborough University Collaboration of Sport Integrity and sits on the Editorial Board of a number of journals, while being a scientific track chair of the European Sport Management Association.