Corruption in European Soccer: The New Yorker

The whistle-blowing organization Football Leaks has targeted corruption among dozens of soccer players, executives and clubs since 2015. Portuguese soccer aficionado Rui Pinto has reported on inflated salaries, large-scale tax evasion, controversial and secret deals and rape allegations against a major star. Currently being held for cybercrime charges, the young man leaked more than 88 million documents from the sport’s storied soccer clubs and has become a hero to fans for exposing corrupt business practices. A handful of elite clubs have been found to have broken financial rules with illegal sponsorships and deals. Benfica, one of the most popular clubs in Portugal, is suing archrival F.C. Porto for €17 million in damages after Football Leaks reported on a bribery scandal. The story by Sam Knight is a thrilling account on how the most famous teams and players must answer to a hardcore soccer fan’s efforts to investigate the globalized, powerful sport. “Unlike American sports, with their draft picks, salary caps, and collective-bargaining agreements, European soccer is a heedless, Darwinian affair,” he writes. “Spending rules are broken. Salaries are secrets. The best leagues are awash in Russian oligarchs, Middle Eastern sovereign-wealth funds, and Chinese conglomerates.” – YaleGlobal