Play the Game special investigations
On occasion, Play the Game publishes complex investigative work by journalists in the form of long reads or series of articles.
On this theme page, you can find
- A special investigation looking into the relationship between football and illegal sports gambling by Philippe Auclair, Andy Brown, Samindra Kunti, Jack Kerr, and Steve Menary
- Grit Hartmann's investigation into The Court of Arbitration for Sport
- Andy Brown's investigation into race walker Alex Schwazer's struggle with the international anti-doping system
An international consortium of journalists has looked into the relationship between football and illegal sports gambling. Photos: Getty images / Illustration: Play the Game
The relationship between football and illegal sports gambling
The illegal sports gambling market has a global value of 1.7 trillion USD per year according to the UN, and a lot of that money is generated through partnerships with football clubs.
With the help of a group of investigative journalists, Play the Game has sought to open up the impenetrable world of illegal sports gambling to non-experts through an exposé of football's lucrative pact with Asian-facing betting operators.
Through six articles, journalists Philippe Auclair, Andy Brown, Jack Kerr, Steve Menary and Samindra Kunti have exposed the relationship between football and illegal betting operators.
Read the articles:
Mapping the territory of football's lucrative pact with illegal sports gambling
Introducing the sports betting data supply chain and the predatory integrity industry
A match made in heaven: The explosion of betting ads in European football
Meet the hydras: tracing the illegal gambling operators that sponsor football
Welcome to Curaçao: How a Caribbean island facilitates the illegal betting boom
The root of illegal betting: Britain's white label industry that not even the regulator oversees
An investigative report by Grit Hartmann pushes open the gates of the Court of Arbitration for Sport. Photo: DeFodi Images/Getty Images
Tipping the scales of justice - the sport and its "supreme court"
This report by Grit Hartmann takes a behind-the-scenes look at the Court of Arbitration for Sport: at its composition, the balance of power, mechanisms within the institution, and at patterns that, although largely hidden from public awareness, could influence sports jurisprudence.
A second part of the report deals with the situation of athletes before the CAS and their concerns.
The report consists of nine chapters.
Chapter one: A point in time: The CAS through the case of a sprinter from Belarus
Chapter two: Miguel Maduro: “The opposite of the rule of law“
Chapter three: Mastermind in the Court Office?
Chapter four: Introducing the CAS arbitrators – some basic data
Chapter five: Too close to sport to be independent?
Chapter six: Conflicts of interest: Double hatting and CAS as a tool
Chapter seven: David, Goliath and the remedy gap
Chapter eight: Survey among independent athletes’ organisations
Chapter nine: Legal Aid, André Cardoso and the “worst kind of injustice“
Alex Schwazer celebrates after winning the 50 km Race Walk at IAAF Race Walking Team Championship Rome 2016. Photo: Tullio M Puglia/Getty Images
Schwazer vs. Sport: A race walker’s long and winding route towards doping rehabilitation
An in-depth investigation by Andy Brown from Sports Integrity Initiative reveals the details about race walker and former Olympic Champion Alex Schwazer’s complex struggle with the antidoping system that has culminated with an Italian judge demanding an investigation of WADA and the IAAF.
Over six chapters, Andy Brown takes you through all the little details that have made Schwazer’s case one of the most complex stories in modern sport.
Chapter 1: Can a leopard change its spots?
Chapter 2: This Kraut needs to drop dead
Chapter 3: La Marcia: A stench of fixing
Chapter 4: A transportation with gaps and flaws
Chapter 5: “A complex of logical tricks and false data”
Chapter 6: The athlete vs. the system: An uneven playing field
