SIS Unveils 16% Increase in Suspicious Global Football Matches in 2023

Starlizard Integrity Services (SIS), the sports integrity analysis arm of the UK’s Starlizard consulting, has flagged a 16% rise in potential match-fixing incidents in football for 2023 compared to the previous year.

Analysts at SIS scrutinized 65,400 matches spanning 835 competitions across 128 nations. They pinpointed 167 matches — 0.26% of the total — showing signs of potential manipulation.

The Starlizard Football Integrity Report 2023 breaks down the suspicious matches by region:

• UEFA (Europe): 69 matches (0.18%)
• CONMEBOL (South America): 29 matches (0.34%)
• AFC (Asia): 28 matches (0.47%)
• International: 28 matches (0.52%)
• CAF (Africa): 9 matches (0.35%)
• CONCACAF (North/Central America): 4 matches (0.14%)

No anomalies surfaced within the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC).

Of the all suspicious matches, 83 (49.7%) occurred in leagues below the top tier, while nearly a quarter involved top division games.

The breakdown of the 167 suspicious matches by level of suspicion is as follows:

• High: 13 matches
• Medium: 86 matches
• Low: 68 matches

SIS also highlighted that 45 matches (27%) involved bets primarily on first-half outcomes, indicating a focus on manipulating the first half rather than the full match.

This report follows previous disclosures by Sportradar and the International Betting Integrity Association (IBIA) on suspected manipulations in 2023 sports events.