foxsports
UEFA President Michel Platini has asked European Union sports ministers to help protect football from mafia influences and match-fixing.
Platini says European football risks being ''the victim, if not the slave, of online betting and organized crime.''
He wants sports bodies to own the property rights of betting on their competitions.
Match-fixing scandals have tarnished leagues in Turkey, Italy, Israel, Finland and Greece this year despite UEFA spending millions of euros (dollars) to monitor betting and investigate cases.
ADVERTISEMENT
Platini also wants European lawmakers to criminalize match-fixing.
He met ministers from the 27-nation bloc in Poland, which currently holds the EU presidency, after the European Championship playoff draw.
share
