With the summer ending, football all over Europe is in full swing. The highest player transfer dealings in history have closed and this week the group stage of the UEFA Champions League, one of the world’s richest football competitions, has just kicked off. Yet transparency remains weak in this increasingly rich sector and as a result, corruption risks arise.
Football clubs with large debts can be attractive targets for criminals seeking to launder their dishonest income, not least in the United Kingdom where anti-money laundering regulation are not applied to football. This makes it easier for criminals to outflank the systems of the football business and end up owning clubs.
The most egregious problem is secrecy. Criminals can simply hide their identity behind shell companies and present themselves as white knights to vulnerable clubs, even though the money comes from criminal activity.