AFFA official: Some footballers are not fully aware of match manipulation

Some footballers in Azerbaijan do not fully understand that directly influencing the course of a match, even if the result does not change, can be considered manipulation.

This was stated by Naib Asadov, head of the Compliance and Match-Fixing Prevention Department of AFFA, in an interview with "Report".

He spoke about the main purpose of the training sessions, which have been going on for almost three months, and the issues that concern footballers:

"Seminars are continuing in stages. One of the main points that came to light during the training sessions was that some of the players did not fully understand in advance that directly influencing the course of the game, even if the result did not change, could be considered manipulation. This shows that awareness-raising is important and necessary. The seminars serve to eliminate such misconceptions and incomplete perceptions."

Touching upon the most frequently asked questions in the training sessions, the head of the department noted that the participants were mainly interested in criminal liability:

"One of the most frequently asked questions is why the training sessions also cover lower age groups. Footballers want to know the reasons for this. Another frequently asked question is whether such training sessions are held only for footballers or also for referees and other football entities. One of the issues that most interests both footballers, coaches and other club members is the legal consequences of match manipulation. In particular, questions about whether such cases constitute criminal liability prevail. During the training sessions, a general framework is explained on this topic and participants are informed about how serious the risks are."

Stating that the main focus is currently on the Premier League, I League and II League, the AFFA official said that the scope of activity will be expanded:

"Training continues in this direction. In addition, visits to regional clubs are being planned again. It is also planned to organize such training for clubs playing in the Regional League. The aim is to continue awareness-raising in this area and reach a wider audience."