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COSAFA against football corruption

The Council of Southern African Football Associations (COSAFA) will next week host  a two-day Interpol workshop that will educate the region on key contemporary match-fixing issues and corruption threats in football.
The “Integrity in Sport” workshop will be the first of its kind in Africa, with Interpol partnering with COSAFA to launch their programme on the continent.  
Namibia, alongside other English-speaking countries affiliated to COSAFA – Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe will take part in the initiative to be held in Johannesburg from 25 to 26 August.
It will be attended by senior Interpol and Fifa officials, including Michaela Ragg, Head of Interpol’s Integrity in Sport unit, Ralf Mutschke, Director of FIFA’S Security Division and Detlev Zenglein from FIFA’s Early Warning System programme.
The workshop will bring together regional football administrators, players’ representatives, referees, betting regulators and law enforcement agencies to improve awareness and understanding of corruption in football, the strategies used by its perpetrators and the methods to recognise, resist and report them.
“With billions of dollars involved and more importantly the very reputation of sport itself at stake, it is vital that law enforcement presents a united front in not only-fighting this type of crime but to ensure that everyone involved from the rank and file official to the star player, is given the resources and training to counter the corrupt influences of transnational organised crime,” says Interpol Secretary General Ronald Noble.
The dedicated team will develop and implement the programme, and will form the basis of a training wing within the Interpol Global Complex for Innovation in Singapore. To provide a continuum of learning over the next 10 years, the unit is researching and developing a variety of integral training courses and modules including periodic national and regional workshops tailored to the individual learning needs of the target groups, such as referees and young players.

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