The Danish TV Station TV published a documentary on match-fixing in Handball on 5th July (part I) and 12th July 2023 (part II).
Match-fixing can not be accepted by any sports bodies, as it harms the integrity and therefore the basis of any sports. This holds true for IHF, EHF, National Federations, Leagues, Clubs, match officials, team officials, referees and players.
FCH requests its member clubs on regular basis to follow the rules of EHF and National Federations, prohibiting betting of players and team officials on the outcome of Handball matches.
Attempts of match-fixing shall be reported to EHF or anonymously to https://report.whistleb.com/ehf. The link to the reporting platform is not available via the EHF website as this could allow tracking of individual IP addresses and the potential identification of the individual.
SPORTRADAR is a company monitoring the betting market on behalf of the various stakeholders, ie Federations, Leagues and Betting companies. In 2018 SPORTRADAR produced a report on suspicious betting activities/match-fixing in Handball.
The report says itself that it does not contain any proofs for match-fixing in European Handball. Anyhow it contains indications on suspicious referees/refereeing.
The report was discussed on various levels in EHF and FCH. It was agreed to
- present the materials to the Austrian police authorities
- professionalize the EHF refereeing system
- present the materials to the internal EHF legal system
Concerning 1.: The Austrian authorities provided the materials to Europol for further investigation.
Concerning 2: EHF and FCH started to discuss changes in the refereeing system. One of the outcomes of these discussion was the decision that as of the season 19/20 the EHF Competitions Committee member Refereeing Dragan Nachevski was no longer responsible for the nominations of referees in European Cup competitions.
Concerning 3: The matches were analyzed by EHF and FCH experts without finding indications for match fixing. As there were no proofs, no legal case was opened in 2018/19.
FCH wants to underline that all decisions were taken jointly. During the whole period a permanent exchange of information between the EHF and FCH took place.
FCH welcomed and supported the steps, taken by EHF.
The core of the documentary is a conversation in January 2020 between the former EHF Competitions Commission member Refereeing Dragan Nachevski and an actor, pretending to be a chinese business man with interests to register a Chinese Handball team in SEHA league. The conversation was recorded by TV2 with a hidden camera.
During the conversation the actor/businessman makes attempts to involve Nachevski in match-fixing. The attempts are denied by Nachevski.
At the same time Nachevski continues speaking to the actor/businessman in a friendly manner. He did not inform the European Handball Federation about the conversation for three years.
EHF received of a video copy of the conversation from TV2 on 23rd May 2023. The Executive Committee of EHF decided to release Nachevski from his in duties in an extraordinary meeting with immediate effect only two days later – on 25th May 2023. The Court of Handball opened a case against Nachevski.
FCH welcomes the decision of the EHF Executive Committee.
At the same time FCH wants to underline that a European body like the EHF can not and should not take measures on the basis of unproven allegations. EHF acted consequently and transparently at all times.
FCH calls on EHF to take all necessary measures to avoid match-fixing in the future.