More than one-in-ten athletes has played in a match that was fixed, a new study involving researchers at the University of Limerick has found.
The survey of 600 participants across six European countries also found that nearly 15% of athletes think they have played in a match that was fixed.
A similar percentage said they had been asked to fix a match within the last 12 months.
But of those who were approached to fix a match just over a third said they would not report any suspicions of fixing, mainly due to lack of trust and confidentiality.
40% of those who took part in the survey, Fix the Fixing: Proactive Quelling of Sports Events Manipulation, said club officials were most likely to instigate the illicit act.
The project was funded by Erasmus+ and has also involved the development of a new online educational tool to help those playing and involved in sport to recognise, resist and report match-fixing.
The researchers involved in the study said they were surprised at how vulnerable players are.
"In the opinions of the players surveyed, the strongest risk factor for why a person might fix a match were pressure from an individual in a position of power, the threat of violence against them or their family and financial difficulties," said Dr Deirdre O'Shea, lecturer in work and organisational psychology at UL.
"Not only that but nearly half of the players who took part in the survey reported that they were not certain of the rules in their country around betting or inside information".
Dr Tadhg MacIntyre who led the project nationally with researcher Clare Murphy, carried out a series of focus groups with athletes and referees.
"The knowledge gap we found was vast," Dr MacIntyre said.
"Refs and players in professional sports had received mandatory training and could have written a textbook on the topic, whereas in other sports awareness of the rules was virtually non-existent."
The Fix the Fixing project comprised experts in sport psychology, sports law, organisational psychology, sport coaching, social media data analytics, and anti-corruption researchers.
