Every player, official and referee in the World Cup will have to sign a written pledge that they will not bet on the tournament.
FIFA's
announcement will leave the England players - some of whom, including
Wayne Rooney and Michael Owen, are fond of a flutter - in no doubt that
gambling on the World Cup is strictly forbidden.
The game's world
governing body have also set up a special 'early warning system'
organisation to monitor any suspicious gambling patterns at this
summer's finals in Germany.
Speaking in Zurich, FIFA president
Sepp Blatter said: "There will be special instructions to all the
referees, linesmen, players, coaches and official delegations in the
World Cup.
"They will have to sign a paper saying that they will
never, themselves or their families, be involved in betting on the
World Cup or any other problems."
The early warning system will
see FIFA officials work with big bookmakers and betting markets to
track gambling patterns on matches.
FIFA general secretary Urs
Linsi added: "Whenever we discover that (betting patterns) on certain
matches are not appropriate we would get the signs and act accordingly.
"This will be the first time we have done this but the system has now been established."
FIFA and German organisers have yet to settle on how tickets should be checked by fans going to matches.
The
German interior ministry is adamant that all tickets should be checked
against ID to ensure that the person matches the name on the ticket.
FIFA fear that such a system is unworkable and would lead to huge
delays and possibly crowd problems.
Linsi said: "If you want to
check every ticket on an individual basis it will take a long time and
we don't want to have a long waiting procedure before they can enter.
"This is something we are going to have to solve with the organising committee."
Meanwhile,
Blatter has appeared to backtrack on remarks reported earlier this
month that any racist behaviour by fans at the finals would see their
teams docked points.
FIFA have brought in tough new rules on
points deductions that will apply internationally from the start of
next season but Blatter said it would be difficult at the finals to
identify whether culprits were connected to a particular team because
only 8% of match tickets are initially given to national associations
to distribute.
"If it (racism) is on the field of play or on the
technical bench or identified around the pitch then action will be
taken," said Blatter.
"But the World Cup public is an
international audience at every match and if you have some noises you
don't know where they are sitting, and it can be difficult to identify
who is responsible."
Blatter said before every match the players
would stand before an anti-racism banner, and from the quarter-finals
onwards each captain would make a plea over the loudspeaker system to
fans to respect their opponents.
The FIFA president will also
address the 23 World Cup referees, including England's Graham Poll, in
Frankfurt and warn them that high standards are expected.
"We have enough referees so if one does not behave really well there are replacements available," said Blatter.
"They
can make an error but not an error about the protection of the players
- they will be immediately sent to another level because we have to
ensure the referees are focused at this World Cup."
World Cup
referees will be given an eight-point list of the worst offences to
crack down on, including diving, elbowing, over-the-top tackles, mass
dissent and time-wasting.
SportingLife
