FIFA cleared World Cup; council issued seven integrity notices

FIFA announced on July 21 that its Integrity Task Force found no substantiated signs of match manipulation after real-time monitoring of all 104 matches at the 2026 World Cup. The ruling body described the data reviewed by its partners as producing no indication that any fixture had been fixed.

A day later, the Council of Europe published a summary of the Group of Copenhagen’s independent monitoring. The Group reported issuing seven Yellow Notices, placing 15 matches under enhanced scrutiny-particularly in the final group-stage round-and reviewing 12 major controversies for potential integrity risks. No orange or red notices were recorded.

Yellow Notices sit one level above green on the Group’s four-tier alert scale. The Group defined them as alerts related to unexplained odds movements, social-media rumours or source information, and it said such notices do not constitute proof of manipulation. The Council’s public summary does not indicate that any of the Yellow Notices developed into confirmed instances of match-fixing.

Analysts in the operation monitored betting markets, odds movements, withdrawn betting offers, open-source information and social-media signals. They also tracked individuals previously suspected of involvement in sports manipulation. Fourteen national platforms participated directly in the operation, drawn from an international network of more than 45 members.

The Group of Copenhagen estimated about $240 billion was wagered across the tournament, roughly double the volume recorded at the 2022 World Cup. For the first time at a major international sporting event, the Group continuously monitored prediction markets, which allow traders to buy and sell positions on in-game events such as goals or cards. The Group warned that prediction markets pose new challenges because trades can be placed anonymously and some payment methods are harder to trace.

Prediction-market activity reached record levels during the tournament. Two major platforms recorded nearly $2 billion in final-specific trading, combined monthly volume across leading platforms rose to $44.8 billion in June, and tournament-wide trading across these markets reached $5.81 billion across 52 World Cup events by mid-July. FIFA included a prediction-market operator in its sponsorship program for the first time; that partner later opened to U.S. traders.

Council of Europe Secretary General Alain Berset criticized FIFA’s commercial tie-up with a prediction-market provider before the final and urged the governing body to develop a new integrity framework ahead of the 2030 tournament. The Group of Copenhagen has requested a written explanation from FIFA about a disciplinary decision involving a player. FIFA’s declaration that no matches were manipulated remains its official position, and the Council and FIFA both highlighted that alerts are not the same as confirmed wrongdoing.