LaLiga has praised the success of its new integrity unit and its protection of Spain’s top-flight football from match-fixing and criminal harms.
An update was provided by LaLiga Director of Integrity Iñaki Arbea and Pedro Varas, Head of Integrity Projects, on initiatives led by the unit to tackle and intervene against match-fixing threats and strengthen coordination with relevant authorities.
LaLiga established a dedicated Integrity Unit in 2024 as part of a new charter under the SIGMA coalition framework, a national integrity network led by Spain’s gambling regulator, the Dirección General de Ordenación del Juego (DGOJ).
The coordination brought together Spain’s pro-sports leagues, betting operators, police and sports federations to combat betting corruption and suspicious wagering activity.
Two years following its inception, LaLiga claims that its integrity unit is becoming a reference point for European football leagues seeking to strengthen internal monitoring and anti-corruption controls amid growing concerns over illegal betting markets and organised criminal infiltration of sport.
LaLiga confirmed that in the 2025/26 season nearly 10,000 matches are monitored throughout the season, with 186 fixtures observed live by integrity officers capable of escalating suspicious incidents directly to authorities and betting monitoring systems in real time.
System change for Spanish integrity
Detailing the programme’s progress, Arbea stated that only six integrity alerts had been registered during the current football season, all linked to non-professional football competitions.
The unit stressed that no major integrity concerns had emerged within Spain’s elite divisions, citing greater player awareness and stricter monitoring systems as key deterrents.
“Footballers in Spain have a high level of awareness of the phenomenon of sports corruption,” Arbea stated during the integrity briefing.
The Integrity Unit operates across three core pillars covering prevention, live monitoring and investigations. Prevention initiatives have included workshops and integrity briefings delivered to more than 3,700 participants across First and Second Division clubs, alongside one-to-one sessions with players, captains and coaches regarding betting rules, insider information and sporting sanctions.
Varas highlighted how player education has evolved significantly in recent years: “Players didn’t have the knowledge they have now, and now they assess the risk.”
Addressing confusion often raised by footballers regarding betting restrictions, Varas added: “They ask me if their grandfather can place a bet on the football pools.”
The Spanish league continues to work alongside the National Police through CENPIDA, Spain’s National Centre for Integrity in Sport and Betting, established to investigate betting fraud and organised criminal activity linked to sporting competitions.
Officials reiterated that suspicious betting alerts do not automatically constitute evidence of match-fixing, noting that irregular market activity can often be triggered by coordinated tipster movements or breaches of player betting regulations rather than direct manipulation of sporting outcomes.
Since 2018, LaLiga highlighted only two major integrity investigations to emerge from Spanish football, including the Operation Oikos scandal and the recent yellow-card betting probe involving Kike Salas.
The league additionally warned clubs and players that “third-party bonuses” — historic practices involving payments to other teams to influence sporting results — remain prohibited under Spanish sports law and could result in severe sporting and financial penalties.
“They’ve taken note and they’re no longer participating,” Varas remarked on the decline of illicit bonus arrangements. “They face hefty fines and licence revocations.”
Spain’s improved coordination on match fixing alerts, sees the DGOJ fulfil one of the principal objectives of the “Royal Decree on Gambling Environments” – the federal government’s ongoing mandate to overhaul Spain’s gambling sector in the interest of consumer safety.
Concluding the briefing, Varas stressed that modern football’s financial structures have reduced incentives for manipulation: “Position-based incentives derived from television rights are very important to prevent that kind of market. Now there’s more awareness. People are on the lookout, and I think it’s unlikely a team would accept a bonus.”
