European Union to bolster UEFA crackdown on betting

President of Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), Michel Platini, said this week the European union is to bolster the efforts of European football's governing body to crackdown on betting in football.

"We are going to reinforce our activities regarding betting and bolster our inspectors,” said Platini in an interview with French newspaper Dauphine Libere.

"We already have an early warning system, which tells us there is some kind of irregularity surrounding a match. From there, we investigate. We have had an inquiry into some 15 or 16 matches – 14 cases resolved and there was a problem with one or two. We're looking into those a little more closely,” said Platini.

He then added: "We must be vigilant. If matches are being bought then what is the point of playing football? It's not the act of betting on (football) which annoys me but that one should buy off a player to throw games.”

"If I come across players who have done that they will be banned for life, we will not yield on that. Zero tolerance, as for racism and hooliganism. There have been many prevention campaigns but when we have a European police dossier on it then things will be better still,” concluded Platini.