Reported by Miguel Delaney

(Excerpt shown below. To read full report, go to: https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/football-clubs-agents-money-laundering-government-report-b2791065.html)

Football clubs and football agents have been named for the first time as emerging risks for money laundering and terrorist financing in an annual government report, published on Thursday .

The sport’s “hidden nature” was raised as a specific issue, which means “the scale of criminality” remains “an intelligence gap” that is “difficult to accurately estimate”. 

Even more pressingly for the game’s authorities, the document cited diverse ownership models, profound financial inequality and distressed clubs as specific vulnerabilities, as well as how proceeds of crime could occur through multiple routes, from transfers to falsification of services.

The report, titled “National Risk Assessment of Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing 2025” states for the first time that that “alongside money laundering, football has the potential to be abused for a range of other crimes, including illegal betting, match fixing and bribes” or as an opportunity to “invest illicit funds”.

The report states: “Many clubs have complex offshore corporate structures involving overseas-based enablers and financial products, often in jurisdictions with limited regulatory oversight… Ownership structures using layered front and shell companies, often based overseas or in jurisdictions with low transparency, could obscure the ultimate beneficiaries of clubs and other major stakeholders, such as sponsorship arrangements”.