This week, our Managing Partner, Santiago Asensi, took part in the 5th Conference on Match-Fixing and Corruption in Sport, organized by the Spanish National Police and LaLiga. During the panel “Future Challenges Against Corruption and Sports Fraud”, Santiago addressed the sector’s main challenges and issued a strong call for urgent legal reform and greater judicial specialization to confront increasingly sophisticated match-fixing schemes.
Key Challenges highlighted during the session
- Santiago emphasized the severe overload of Spanish courts, which often prevents sports-fraud cases from being prosecuted efficiently once they reach judicial proceedings.
- He also pointed out that Article 286 bis 4 of the Spanish Criminal Code, which covers sports manipulation, is outdated and poorly drafted. It requires the manipulation to affect the final outcome of the match — an approach no longer aligned with modern fraud patterns, which typically target secondary or micro markets (cards, corners, penalties, etc.).
- Drawing on practical experience, he noted that the firm currently manages nearly 3,000 civil claims linked to fraudulent behaviour by players against operators — cases that illustrate how courts often lack the technical knowledge needed to understand the industry’s complexity.
- Santiago called for stronger legal protections for operators, as well as mechanisms that ensure police investigations can lead to effective judicial outcomes.
You can see more information about the event, here.
