The Council of Europe’s Secretariat of the Convention on the Manipulation of Sports Competitions (Macolin Convention) launched with the support of FIFA the Football Local Alerts Global Strategy (FLAGS) project last 30^th June. This new initiative builds upon the foundations laid by the Group of Copenhagen’s Global Football Alert Analysis Workshop pilot project, which, in partnership with FIFA, tested a system to alert stakeholders rapidly and efficiently of any match-fixing attempts. FLAGS takes this surveillance system to the next level, by gathering the main actors in the fight against match-fixing to collectively support investigations on specific football teams.

To that purpose the Council of Europe has teamed up with FIFA, Confederations, National Football Associations, INTERPOL, the Prosecutor’s network and the Group of Copenhagen to create a robust information and alert network to detect and stop football match-fixing on its tracks, relying on the expertise of instrumental partners: GLMS, IBIA, Sportradar, Starlizard and StatsPerform. FLAGS will guide their joint efforts to accomplish the project’s main steps:

1. Identifying teams which matches’ integrity is a source of concern;
2. Analysing past alerts;
3. Monitoring teams for an 8-month period; and
4. Providing individual support to coordinators, prosecutors and partners throughout the investigation process, in the form of risk assessments, monitoring reports and other relevant information, whilst facilitating a coordination and exchange platform for intelligence-sharing and synergy-building among all relevant actors.

The project will run until June 2022.