Tony Higgins, the Scottish Professional Footballers' Association president has been appointed to a high-powered expert advisory panel which has been set up to monitor corruption in sport.

Other members include Dick Pound, the Canadian lawyer who is a former vice-president of the International Olympic Committee and ex-president of the World Anti-Doping Agency.

The seven-person panel, which will be formally announced later this week, has been formed by Transparency International, which is based in Berlin and monitors global corruption.

"They are finding instances of corruption and criminality in sport are coming to light far more than ever before," said Higgins, who works for the international footballers' union, Fifpro.

"In football, criminals are inveigling themselves into clubs, and even national federations. The idea is to target referees and players for match fixing.

"Transparency International are compiling an in-depth report which will look at the problems sport is encountering throughout the world - and what may have to be done in the future to counter that.

"They have set up this expert advisory panel and the report, which will include an in-depth index of countries, should be published soon.

"Transparency International want to develop their knowledge because they are consistently being asked to offer advice on sports issues. Unfortunately, corruption in sport is going to be an increasingly frequent story."