M.R. Haberfeld and Dale Sheehan (ed): Match-Fixing in International Sports: Existing Processes, Law Enforcement and Prevention Strategies [review]

Match-Fixing in International Sports, edited by Maria R. Haberfeld and Dale Sheehan, is a very informative collection on a rather under-researched but increasingly important topic. The book was compiled following the ‘Integrity in Sport Meeting’, an international conference that took place in November 2012 in Singapore, with the aim to create academic awareness and trigger discussion about the operationalisation of Sports Related Crimes (SRC), in order to facilitate an effective justice response globally, while underlying Academia’s role within it. The fact that both the Secretary General of INTERPOL, Ronald K. Noble, and FIFA’s Head of Security, Ralf Mutschke, welcome the book draws additional attention to the need for further research on the issue of match-fixing, as the recent collaboration between the two organisations has also suggested. It worth noting that in both the Foreword and the Preface match-fixing is presented as a crime on the rise, with the emphasis drawn on the involvement of ‘organised criminal organisations’.