The first edition of the Sport Integrity Week kicked off on Monday with the participation of 100 speakers representing five continents. The initiative proposed and organised by the Sport Integrity Global Alliance (SIGA), the worlds largest sport integrity coalition, headquartered in Geneva.
The Sport Integrity Week agenda includes 50 digital events, including discussion sessions (webinars). The first edition of the global initiative will be held on a digital platform that includes live broadcasts and interactive discussions on SIGAs YouTube channel.
The event aims to promote the adoption and implementation of the highest integrity standards at all levels and across all areas of sport. It will bring together all relevant key stakeholders, senior industry leaders and top experts, and provide a privileged opportunity to raise global awareness about the most critical challenges facing sport and the wider industry, facilitate collective action and pave the way to the necessary reforms at the centre of SIGAs mission.
In his opening speech, SIGA chairman Franco Frattini hailed the organisation of such unprecedented event in the world which will address over five day fighting corruption and how to protect integrity. He noted that SIGA has succeeded in organising this event across all continents of the world despite the repercussions of the coronavirus pandemic, with wide participation from the public and private sectors, civil society organisations and leading personalities in the world.
Over the coming days, Frattini, the event will witness sessions with the participation of jurists, public prosecutors, specialists in all sectors, officials and civil society organisations, all of whom will discuss, under the umbrella of SIGA, organised crimes that affect sport, and the manipulation of match results.
Despite all the obstacles, we are now on a platform through which we can exchange views and talk about atypical crimes and find solutions to breaches of the law and the global sports mafia targeting young athletes and their victims from small clubs in particular, he added. The discussions during the event will also address racism, which is one of the misfortunes of football, and will seek to strengthen co-operation between the public and private sectors and international community organisations, he noted.
SIGA CEO Emanuel Macedo de Medeiros in a typical tub-thumping address said the sports and their stakeholders must “stand united and strong in the resolve to overcome this crisis”. He said that sports “must feel the passion the catalyst of socio-economic progression. There is no second chance. Sport owns the problems but it must also own the solutions.”
One of this solutions he encouraged sports to use is SIGAs standard independent ratings valuations (SIRVs) that have been launched to give sports an integrity audit and valuation as governing bodies seek, in many cases, to regain or retain trust in their sports.
The sessions and discussions of the Sport Integrity Week comprises five axes: sports governance anti-corruption and international co-operation, financial integrity transparency and sustainability, integrity and betting in sports, developing youth capabilities and protecting children in sports, managing sports media and technology.
The launch of the first edition the Sport Integrity Week witnessed wide participation from different countries of the world, especially from the youth segment, as registration to participate and attend the sessions in the Webinar system remained open even minutes before the official opening of the event.
The activities of the second day of the event included Chairman of the International Centre for Sports Security and Vice Chairman of the Sport Integrity Global Alliance (SIGA), Mohamed bin Hanzab, delivering an opening speech.
The Qatari presence is also highlighted in the participation of CEO of Qatar Stars League and Vice Chairman of the FIFA Referees Committee, Hani Ballan, at a panel discussion on the Impact of Covid-19 on the integrity in sports.