FIFA and UEFA could ban in-game betting

FIFA and UEFA are considering a ban on in-game betting, saying it represents a bigger threat of manipulation than the more conventional gambling on results.

Marco Villiger, head of legal affairs at world soccer's ruling body FIFA, and Gianni Infantino, general secretary of European counterparts UEFA, expressed concern over betting on things like the next free kick, throw-in or yellow card.

"These live bets are a problem," said Villiger at a conference on early warning systems designed to alert soccer authorities to irregular betting patterns and possible match-fixing.

"It's very easy to manipulate if you contact a player and tell him to kick the ball into touch at the start.

"You would be able to bet on that and it would be difficult to decide if it is an irregular bet or not. We will have to think about whether we should continue to offer such live bets," added Villiger.

Infantino said the soccer authorities were planning talks with the betting operators.

"This is ... something we want to address and the next discussion we will have is with the betting operators," he told reporters.

"It's something we haven't focused on too much since we were always focusing on (the fixing of) the result, then you realise it switches much more from the result to the live betting."

UEFA president Michel Platini has described match-fixing as the biggest scourge facing the sport.

European soccer's governing body monitors 29,000 matches a year -- including under-21 internationals, Europa League qualifiers and second division fixtures -- for irregular betting which could indicate a game has been fixed.