Football DataCo unveils integrity strategy with Genius Sports

Monday 13th of November 2017

Football DataCo, the official data rights holder of all the professional football leagues in England and Scotland, has announced a landmark integrity agreement with Genius Sports and Perform Group.

The Genius Sports and Perform partnership is the first time that two global leaders in sports data and technology have joined forces to protect the integrity of sport. It will enable all the professional league and cup competitions in England and Scotland to benefit from two highly sophisticated bet monitoring systems identifying unusual or potentially suspicious patterns occurring in global betting markets, for over 5,000 football matches per season.

This technology will monitor all odds movements across 14 different competitions in English and Scottish football. This includes not just the core Premier League, EFL, and Scottish Professional Football League matches but also the English and Scottish FA Cups and steps 1-4 in the English National League.

The agreement marks a significant expansion of Football DataCo’s existing integrity monitoring provision, launched in 2014 with Genius Sports.

This new partnership will see all parties working together to develop a bespoke intelligence network, capitalising on Perform Group’s and Genius Sports’ extensive industry expertise and resources. This will facilitate the development of a unique intelligence database and analytical capability that will provide Football DataCo, the Leagues and the Football Association with greater visibility and protection against threats to their integrity of their competitions.

Genius Sports and Perform Group will also work together to deliver a series of educational workshops aimed at arming players, officials and league and club executives with the knowledge to identify and avoid match-fixing’s growing threat.

Adrian Ford, general manager of Football DataCo, said: “Ensuring the highest standards of integrity is a key priority for both English and Scottish Leagues and Football Associations. Harnessing the strengths of Genius Sports and Perform and focussing on intelligence led information will support efforts to protect the integrity of British football.”

Steven Burton, managing director of Genius Sports, said: “To be truly effective, any strategy against the growing threats of match-fixing and betting-related corruption must incorporate three key elements: technology, education and intelligence. We are delighted to be extending our partnership with Football DataCo to deliver these key components and provide a greater level of protection to the integrity of English and Scottish football than ever before.”

Jake Marsh, head of integrity operations at Perform Group, said: “We are delighted to announce our involvement in this innovative new project for the integrity of UK football. Perform is a great believer in innovation and progression across all our divisions, including integrity, where cooperation, objectivity and insight are paramount. The opportunity to be part of a new model for integrity provision and support is one that we believe can help best protect UK football. Together with Genius Sports, we look forward to working with the associations and leagues to bring football integrity into a new era.”

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