ZURICH: World federation FIFA has ticked the latest boxes in the campaign to resist the threat of matchfixing by confirming bans on 26 more individuals already punished by the Finland and Turkey federations.

Swiss disciplinary chairman Marcel Mathier thus approved worldwide a range of sanctions against amateur and professional players, coaches, club and match officials.

These include 24 sanctions imposed by the Turkish federation for match-fixing and betting as follows: six lifetime bans; four bans of three years; two bans of two-and-a-half years; six bans of two years; and six further bans of one year.

As for Finland, the FAF had suspended two players from all national football activities for two years as of April 6 and these were ratified by FIFA.

Secretary-general Jérôme Valcke said: “FIFA’s commitment to tackling match-fixing is unwavering. The decisions of the FIFA Disciplinary Committee demonstrate our determination to protect the foundation of sport and fair play, showing zero tolerance to those who do not share FIFA’s ethos. We hope these decisions send a clear message around the world. If you do not play by the rules you will be punished.”