Game Over – UNODC Report on Corruption and Money Laundering in Sports

That the sports sector, especially professional football, is increasingly coming into focus in the context of money laundering prevention is nothing new.*

However, a highly interesting report by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) now illustrates just how strong the links between sports and organized crime can be. It details how criminal networks exploit the sports industry to launder illicit proceeds.

Why is the football sector particularly attractive for money laundering?

According to an FATF report focusing specifically on money laundering in the football sector (FATF, Money Laundering through the Football Sector), the structure of football clubs is inherently vulnerable to exploitation for money laundering. The structure is said to be easy for criminal groups to infiltrate due to often lacking strict regulations. The football sector involves substantial financial flows, especially through high-value player transfers, making it an attractive target for money laundering activities. Culturally, the image of football as an “innocent sport” reduces the likelihood that management reports suspicious activity, further facilitating money laundering. The unpredictability of the sport and the potential for massive profits from transfers and talent development also contribute to the tolerance of irrational payments and increase the risk of financial crime.

This entanglement between football and money laundering is also addressed again in the new report. According to UNODC, the transfer of athletes — particularly the trade in young football players — is often used to facilitate trade-based money laundering (TBML). The number and value of transfers are high, and the often non-transparent financial structure enables the concealment of illicit funds. In particular, football academies and tournaments are affected, as they are more lightly regulated and receive less public attention, making them easier to infiltrate. FIFA statistics show that during the 2022/2023 football season, 10,000 transfers were completed by mid-season alone, generating agent fees of USD 696 million.

While football remains the sport most affected by organized crime, criminal group activity is also increasing in other sports — particularly boxing, tennis, table tennis, and basketball.

Other methods of exploiting sport for money laundering

The manipulation of sports competitions and illegal sports betting — especially via unregulated online platforms and through concealment using cryptocurrencies and prepaid cards — remain, according to the UNODC report, frequently used means of laundering money. Illegal betting is rapidly increasing and accounts for almost two-thirds of the global betting market. As such, it represents a significant source of income for organized criminal groups and undermines the integrity of sports.

Much of this activity is often inseparable from corruption. Officials of sports organizations are frequently targeted by bribes and incentives from organized crime. Financially unstable sports organizations are particularly vulnerable to corruption and are often exploited for match-fixing, for example.

Case studies: Sport and money laundering

The report presents several case studies, including examples that demonstrate how the sports sector is exploited for money laundering in various ways.

Operation Mursal was a Spain-led international investigation into a criminal network that engaged in match-fixing to launder money. The perpetrators deliberately manipulated football matches in Romania’s third league as well as a table tennis tournament in Eastern Europe. They used large satellite dishes to receive signals directly from the playing fields and exploited the delay to assess matches in real time. This allowed them to place accurate bets and achieve high winnings.

The illegal proceeds were then laundered through several bank accounts in Spain, all linked to the main suspect. He had been residing in Dubai but was eventually arrested and extradited to Spain — highlighting the international dimension of the money laundering operation.

Recommendations to prevent money laundering in sports

The report provides several recommendations to make it harder for organized crime to infiltrate the sports sector and thus to prevent large-scale money laundering.

Of central importance is enhanced international cooperation. This includes increased information sharing through central databases and platforms that facilitate real-time tracking of suspicious betting patterns, financial transactions, and other indicators. The report also proposes comprehensive disclosure requirements for all parties involved in player transfers, including financial terms and information on third-party owners, to prevent covert transactions.

It should gradually become easier to identify and prosecute criminal networks by tracking financial flows. For this, advanced financial monitoring and reporting systems must be developed to automatically detect suspicious transactions.

You can find the full report here: UNODC Report

This is particularly relevant since the sector was included in the new EU Anti-Money Laundering Regulation (EU-AML-VO), Regulation (EU) 2024/1624 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the prevention of the use of the financial system for the purposes of money laundering or terrorist financing. Certain actors in this sector will be considered independent obliged entities from 2029 onwards. We have already published a series of articles on our blog regarding this topic.