FIFA President Gianni Infantino reaffirmed his zero tolerance stance towards players involved in sports betting schemes.
Last Saturday (15), during an event in Paris, France, which honored Pelé, journalists questioned Infantino about the accusations against Brazilian midfielder Lucas Paquetá, from West Ham. He only highlighted the seriousness with which FIFA treats the matter.
Lucas Paquetá’s involvement in sports betting
“Players know: you shouldn’t bet, obviously. In football, rugby, any sport. When something happens, FIFA obviously investigates and takes very serious and uncompromising decisions when it comes to betting. And football, in all levels, including at the amateur level”, said Infantino.
Lucas Paquetá is at the center of a serious accusation in Europe. The English Federation is investigating the player for allegedly receiving four yellow cards intentionally, aiming to favor third parties in sports betting.
The lawsuit has two thousand pages, meticulously analyzing the scenarios of warnings that occurred in West Ham matches.
Therefore, for the leader, it is necessary to maintain a rigid stance but not generalize. Each case is different and creating generalizations is the worst way to deal with the problem.
“If someone committed an act contrary to sporting rules, it is obvious that there will be sanctions. Now, each situation is different, it should not be trivialized and judged accordingly”, stated the FIFA president.
Ensuring integrity in sport
But this zero-tolerance approach adopted by Infantino is crucial to maintaining the integrity of the sport. Sports bets made by players can:
- Compromising the credibility of competitions
- Generate distrust among fans
- Remove sponsors
Therefore, the message of zero tolerance and the consequences for players sends a strong message to all those thinking about making any type of arrangement in sports betting.
Therefore, this type of approach from FIFA was more than expected for the protection of world football.
Thus, with rigorous but fair investigations and appropriate judgments, FIFA shows that the problem is not sports betting, but those who want to take advantage of them and the entity will not allow that.
