Three Ways Football is Perfect Target for Money Laundering

Football’s global financial power has made it an attractive target for sophisticated money laundering schemes. Here are three major scandals illustrating how criminals exploit the beautiful game.

Shady sponsorships, inflated player transfer values, organised crime groups on a buying spree - global football and its vast financial ecosystem have made it a magnet for illicit financial activities. In recent years, a series of disturbing cases have revealed just how vulnerable football is to illicit financial flows. We detail the nitty-gritty of three such notorious schemes and the specific vulnerabilities they exploit.

This article was first published as the lead feature within the Money Laundering Techniques newsletter for February 2025.

1. The Manchester City/8xbet Scandal: A Sponsorship Nightmare

One of the most alarming examples in recent memory is the 8xbet scandal involving Manchester City. Here’s how it unfolded:

• Lax Sponsor Vetting:
  8xbet, a relatively obscure betting company with murky credentials, managed to secure a major sponsorship deal in 2022 with Manchester City—one of the most successful clubs in the world. The root issue was a glaring gap in “Know Your Sponsor” (KYS) protocols. Despite the stakes, due diligence on the sponsor’s background was insufficient, allowing a firm with convincing ties to scams and human trafficking to slip through.