Money laundering is a modern scourge globally, involving trillions of dollars, and sport, in general, and association football, in particular, is vulnerable to money laundering. This is due to the eye-watering financial flows generated by football club acquisitions, international player transfers, sponsorship agreements and other cross-border
Professional football clubs and agents in Germany are coming under increasing scrutiny as a result of a forthcoming important package of anti-money laundering legal measures under the European Union (EU) Anti-Money Laundering Regulation (AMLR). In fact, German professional football clubs and agents officially become "obliged entities"
Professional football involves substantial cross-border financial flows, including club investments, acquisitions, player transfers, agent payments, sponsorships and image-rights arrangements. These transactions can involve complex ownership and contractual structures, making the sector relevant from an anti-money-laundering perspective. Switzerland is also particularly significant as a centre of international sports
An internal audit launched by the Turkish Football Federation (TFF) at the end of 2024 into referees' betting activity found that, of 571 registered referees, 371 held betting accounts, and 152 of them had actively placed bets on domestic matches. Following this finding, the TFF initiated
Professional football in the United Kingdom (UK) is officially regarded as a high-risk target for money laundering. In fact, the UK Government National Risk Assessment expressly includes professional football within its financial crime focus. There are a number of reasons why money laundering in football is a
In General Money laundering is a significant and growing problem in sport, which, globally, is now a multi-billion US dollar industry in its own right, particularly in association football, which is the world’s favourite and most lucrative sport. This is largely due to the eye-watering sums, cross-border