Match fixing

Match fixing or game fixing in organized sports occurs when a match is played to a completely or partially pre-determined result. Where the sporting competition in question is a race then the incident will be referred to as race fixing. Games that are deliberately lost are sometimes called thrown games.

Reasons

Match fixing is often motivated by agreements with gamblers. But this is not always the case - in the NHL and NBA, teams near the bottom of the standings have sometimes been accused of throwing games at the end of the season to finish with the worst record in the league - thereby gaining the first draft pick. To deter this, these leagues now use a draft lottery which does not guarantee the first pick to the team at the bottom of the standings (the NFL also conducts a draft, but does not make use of a lottery).

Related Topics:
Gamblers - NHL - NBA - Draft pick - Draft lottery - NFL

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In the NBA (but not in the NHL), there have also been allegations of teams throwing games in order to finish in sixth rather than fifth place in the conference standings, thus enabling the team in question to evade a possible playoff match with the conference's top seed until the final round of playoffs in that conference (for more details see single-elimination tournament).

Related Topics:
NBA - NHL - Single-elimination tournament

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In the past, some NFL teams have been accused of throwing games in order to obtain a more favourable schedule the following season; this was especially true between 1977 and 1993, when a team finishing last in a five-team division would get to play five of its eight non-division matches the next season against other last-place teams. On occasion, an NFL team has also been accused of throwing its final regular-season game in an attempt to "choose" its possible opponent in the subsequent playoffs; perhaps the most notable example of this was when the San Francisco 49ers, who had clinched a playoff berth, lost their regular-season finale in 1988 to the Los Angeles Rams, thereby keeping the New York Giants (who had defeated the 49ers in the playoffs in both 1985 and 1986, also injuring 49er quarterback Joe Montana in the latter year's game) from qualifying for the postseason; after the game, Giants quarterback Phil Simms angrily accused the 49ers of "laying down like dogs."

Related Topics:
NFL - 1977 - 1993 - San Francisco 49ers - 1988 - Los Angeles Rams - New York Giants - 1985 - 1986 - Joe Montana - Phil Simms

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When a team intentionally loses a game to obtain a perceived future competitive advantage rather than gamblers being involved, the team is often said to have tanked the game instead of having thrown it. Often, substitutions made by the coach designed to deliberately increase the team's chances of losing (frequently by having one or more key players sit out, often using minimal or phantom injuries as a public excuse for doing this), rather than ordering the players actually on the field to intentionally underperform, were cited as the main factor in cases where tanking has been alleged.

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In addition to the match fixing that is committed by players, coaches and/or team officials, it is not unheard of to have results manipulated by corrupt referees. In 2004 a scandal erupted in Germany concerning soccer-referees who fixed matches for gamblers.

Related Topics:
Referee - Germany

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Match fixing does not necessarily involve deliberately losing a match. Occasionally, teams have been accused of deliberately playing to a draw where the draw ensures some mutual benefit (e.g. both teams advancing to the next stage of a competition.) There have also been incidents (especially in basketball) where players on a favored team have won the game but deliberately ensured the quoted point spread was not covered (see point shaving).

Related Topics:
Basketball - Point spread - Point shaving

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