Club League maintains harsh penalties for corruption and match-fixing

The Portuguese Professional Football League (LPFP) decided on Tuesday to maintain a “robust system of sanctions” on issues such as corruption or match-fixing, despite a new legal regime for sport integrity that includes softer sanctions.

The clubs, meeting in a general assembly held at the organization’s headquarters in Porto, voted to maintain a suspension of two to ten years for directors involved in acts of arbitration corruption, instead of the one to five year penalty provided for in the new law. A legal regime for sport integrity and unsportsmanlike conduct that came into force in January this year.

“The signal has been given that self-regulation is absolutely a structuring issue for professional football, which does not hesitate to provide uncompromising answers to issues that are absolutely central to the credibility of this industry,” the LPFP emphasized in a statement.

In addition to this strong stance on issues of corruption, match-fixing, coercion and sports betting, clubs also voted to strengthen sanctions in various areas of the regulations.

Sports companies are facing increased scrutiny and sanctions if they fail to provide assurances regarding the compliance and transparency of their corporate actions and potential inconsistencies.

There will also be tougher penalties for sports companies that fail to straighten out their contributions and tax situations, as well as tougher penalties for those that fail to maintain payroll controls.

In this case, the sanctions for those who do not prove the relevance of their payments involve the deduction of five to eight points from the classification, whereas until now it was between two and eight points.

“Once again, this is a sign of the self-regulation that clubs impose on themselves in order to protect our football and competition,” added Helena Pires.