COB hosts II Safe Sport Forum in Rio to tackle match-fixing and promote responsible gaming

On 12 November 2025 the Brazilian Olympic Committee (COB), through its Safe Sport Program, convened the second edition of the Safe Sport Forum in Rio de Janeiro, bringing together sports authorities, former athletes and specialists to discuss how to prevent and combat manipulation of results in Brazilian sport.

Approximately 160 representatives from national federations, clubs and partner organisations attended the event, held under the theme “Ethics and Integrity in Sport”. Key speakers included Emanuel Rego (COB Director-General), who emphasised that “sport needs to be ethical, transparent, legal and fair”. Also present was Giovanni Rocco Neto, National Secretary of Sports Betting and Economic Development at the Ministry of Sports, who pointed out that prevention is the main mechanism to preserve the integrity of Brazilian sport.

The forum featured sessions on regulation and legislation, prevention and detection of match-fixing, and the role of the betting sector in sport integrity. Among the topics addressed: codes of conduct, conflicts of interest, and use of technology and data to detect illicit approaches. During the event COB launched the free online course titled “Combating Match-Fixing: Together in Defense of Responsible Play”, available through the Brazilian Olympic Institute (IOB) platform. The course aims to raise awareness among athletes, coaches and referees about manipulation risks and sports integrity.

For the gambling and sports-business community this initiative by COB signals a stronger alignment between sports federations, integrity bodies and the regulated betting sector in Brazil. The emphasis on prevention, education and inter-institutional cooperation may impact how betting operators engage with sports sponsorship, and how regulatory oversight evolves in the coming years.