The integrity of African football is increasingly scrutinized amid rising instances of match manipulation that reveal significant vulnerabilities within current systems. Moses Swaibu, a former professional footballer and the founder and CEO of sports integrity technology firm GC360, shared his insights on the issue, emphasizing the complexities behind match-fixing. “I speak from experience. I was a professional footballer [who] was recruited, and then I did the recruiting. I know how the grooming works because I did it,” he stated.
Swaibu, known for his integrity education work with influential organizations such as Fifa, UEFA, and the Premier League, urged caution in interpreting data related to suspicious activities. He explained, “Rising alert volumes do not automatically mean rising manipulation. They often mean monitoring is getting better.” He continued, “What we can say with confidence is that the infrastructure to detect manipulation is strengthening in Africa faster than the infrastructure to prevent it.”
He warned that the syndicates involved in targeting African football are not merely local opportunists but sophisticated, international entities that know the landscape well.
In Uganda, concerns about organized match-fixing were highlighted when the Federation of Uganda Football Associations (FUFA) provisionally suspended 13 individuals during an investigation into a multi-match-fixing scheme. This inquiry involved 10 referees, two football administrators, and a player, with indications pointing toward a syndicate based in South Africa. The allegations involved attempts to manipulate seven matches from October to November 2023 in Uganda’s men’s second division and women’s football leagues.
Denis Lukambi, FUFA's legal manager, noted, “99% of the fixing activity was betting related, with money placed in Uganda and abroad.” In response, Fifa extended worldwide sanctions against seven Ugandans linked to these activities. Five players received five-year bans while two referees were handed ten-year bans. FUFA continued its efforts, sanctioning a further 12 individuals in November 2024 for another scheme associated with a foreign betting syndicate, leading to penalties ranging from one year to a lifetime ban.
Financial vulnerability plays a critical role in match-fixing. Swaibu pointed out that it is often financial desperation, rather than greed, that exposes individuals to exploitation. “The entry point is always the same. It is not greed. It is financial vulnerability,” he stated. This issue tends to be more pronounced in lower divisions, as evidenced by another incident from Burundi where players and a director received five-year bans for accepting payments to deliberately underperform.
In Mali, the Malian Football Federation (FEMAFOOT) launched an inquiry into the integrity of a Ligue 1 match held on June 10, 2024, as integrity concerns emerged. The exact findings remain pending as the ethics body investigates.
Kenya is also taking measures to combat match manipulation. Recently, the Sports (Amendment) Bill, 2026, sponsored by Irene Mayaka, was passed by the National Assembly. This legislation seeks to redefine manipulation in sports to include various acts such as offering undue advantage or conspiring to fix results. If passed into law, violations could carry severe penalties, including fines and imprisonment.
The impetus for this bill follows integrity concerns raised in Kenyan football, including findings from Fifa regarding the club Muhoroni Youth's involvement in match manipulation. According to Swaibu, there have been bans imposed on players in Kenya as part of a larger international conspiracy. Nairobi City Stars’ CEO Patrick Korir noted that legislative solutions alone wouldn’t suffice to resolve the match-fixing crisis, citing significant financial repercussions for clubs in the current environment.
Swaibu praised the Kenyan Football Federation's efforts to ensure timely payment for referees, stating, “That is prevention done properly. If you are not paying your referees, you are not protecting your competition.”
Addressing the situation across Africa, it’s clear that these issues are not isolated. The integration of cross-border betting networks has created additional challenges for integrity bodies. While progress has been made in investigating and sanctioning inappropriate behaviors, Swaibu emphasized the urgent need for comprehensive integrity measures in licensing across all African markets. He reiterated, “Africa is a priority market for us. The growth is real, the vulnerability is real, and the infrastructure that protects players at the point of approach is what is missing.”
As match-fixing schemes evolve, the race against time for sports authorities to adapt laws and regulations continues. The challenge remains to keep pace with the rapid movement of suspicious betting, which can cross borders in seconds, while the enforcement of disciplinary measures often takes much longer.
