Malta Football Players Association provides anonymous app to report corruption

Malta Football Players Association (MFPA) issue a Red Button Web App to work on reducing match-fixing in Malta

Match-fixing poses a huge threat to football, and as its roots spread throughout the Maltese islands, there needs to be a collective effort to abolish it and keep the pure untouched beauty of sports alive. This collective effort is trickier than it seems especially for players simply because regulations state that a player approached to manipulate a match must immediately report this along with naturally refusing it.

As clear as this might seem, in 2016 Maltese football player Samir Arab was approached for match-fixing and he hesitated to tell the authorities immediately because he didn’t know what or who was involved in this attempt to bribe him, and as a result when he opened up he himself was banned from playing for two years. Other players who experienced this were also sanctioned with a a ban of around the same time.

Watch video below:

 

Together with FIFPro, MFPA are now providing their professional members in Malta with an app called the ‘Red Button Web App’, which allows playrs to send a request for a unique code and they will then be able to use the app themselves, sending reports which will not be received by MFPA itself and are not traceable. The app is a web application owned by FIFPro and built by a company that creates high-security software for banks, designed specifically as an anonymous reporting mechanism, which will hopefully improve the situation and avoid any unjust happenings to players who want to be honest and transparent but are reluctant due to what or who may be behind the illegality.