The International Betting Integrity Association (IBIA) and its members; bet365, Betway and FanDuel, have partnered with the Professional Footballers’ Association Canada (PFA Canada).

This is to develop a tailor-made two-year educational course for players and staff in the Canadian Premier League’s (CPL) eight teams.

The programme will cover a range of integrity issues, such as match-fixing, fraud and how to report suspicious activity.

IBIA CEO, Khalid Ali, said: “IBIA’s members take their role – as responsible regulated betting operators – in protecting the integrity of sporting competition and of betting markets seriously.

“Alongside balanced, efficient and evidenced-based regulation, protecting soccer players, staff and officials from being targeted by criminals is an essential first step to stamping out sports-betting related match-fixing and fraud.”

The course will be funded by the IBIA, bet365, Betway and FanDuel, with CA$300,000 (US$218,891) set aside for three years.

PFA Canada Executive Director, Dan Kruk, said: “IBIA has delivered sports-integrity education to over thirty-five thousand athletes in Europe since 2010, and we’re grateful that they can leverage that know-how to design a bespoke training for CPL players.

“At PFA Canada we understand that, despite being more resource-intensive, in-person sports integrity education is essential to gain the trust and understanding of busy athletes, and to enable full, frank and open conversations.”

In addition to its responsible gaming educational workshops, the IBIA also oversees suspicious betting in real-time.

In its latest report, the IBIA reported a 65% increase in suspicious betting alerts, with the highest number coming from football, respectively.