Football clubs and agents named as ‘emerging risk’ in money laundering report | The Independent
Analysis by Paula Bento
This news is highly relevant from a KYC perspective because it highlights the growing challenges associated with identifying ultimate beneficial owners in football club ownership structures. Many clubs operate through complex corporate arrangements involving offshore entities, holding companies and multiple investors, making it difficult for financial institutions to verify who ultimately owns or controls the organisation. As investment in football continues to increase with major global events such as the 2026 FIFA World Cup, ensuring transparency over ownership and source of funds becomes increasingly important.
The report is likely to increase regulatory scrutiny on football clubs, agents, investors and related financial transactions. Financial institutions working with clubs may need to perform enhanced due diligence, including deeper investigations into ownership structures, source of wealth and source of funds. This could result in more extensive onboarding processes, increased monitoring requirements and higher compliance costs for organisations operating within the football ecosystem.
The football industry is moving towards greater transparency and accountability, where strong governance and clear ownership structures become competitive advantages rather than simply regulatory requirements. Clubs that can demonstrate transparent ownership and robust compliance practices will be better positioned to attract investors, sponsors, banking relationships and commercial partnerships. In contrast, organisations relying on opaque structures may face greater scrutiny, reputational risks and reduced access to financial services.
World Cup 2026: Gambling ad rules tighten across Europe | European Gaming
Analysis by Miguel Sampaio
The usual gambling spike before and during global sport events is leading several European countries to increase monitoring and enforcement, implement strict gambling advertising, and tackle migration to illegal operators where KYC/AML controls are weak.
In Europe, the gambling landscape is changing during the FIFA World Cup. For example, Netherlands monitors and sanctions unlicenced operators to protect the ecosystem and Belgium restricts unwanted gambling advertisement to protect players that demonstrate a risky behaviour.
Other European countries either apply full restrictions on TV advertisement for gambling, or limit TV advertisement to a specific schedule. They impose a ban on credit gambling, and apply a new framework for those who want to self-exclude from gambling. To support these changes, there is enhanced monitoring to ensure compliance by licensed operators and immediate sanctions for non-compliance. It is crucial to ensure that the increased advertisement budget complies with mandated requirements.
Tight controls and scrutiny from regulators invite gambling companies to conduct regulatory gap analysis, and regulatory readiness assessments. In the future, gambling companies should expect and anticipate further regulatory scrutiny, as regulatory requirements and monitoring has been increasing consistently over the last number of years. In turn, this may force gambling companies to shift offshore where controls are more relaxed, leading to lower effectiveness of KYC and AML frameworks, and ultimately increasing cross-border financial crime risks.
How will the new EU Anti-Money Laundering Regulation impact football clubs & agents? - LawInSport
Analysis by Vasco Oliveira
Complex and opaque ownership structures, investors and sponsorships with unknown source of funds, transactions that move billions per year, layered cross-border transactions.
All these risks are known in the financial sector and apply to football. Most clubs operate under financial pressure, increasing their vulnerability and risk of money laundering. That is why football was recently added to the EU Anti-Money Laundering Authority and will be under new AML obligations from the 10 July 2029.
Currently, professional EU football clubs operate under UEFA, FIFA, and local governance rules, Financial Fair Play, corporate governance requirements, and have limited AML obligations. From 10 July 2029, professional football clubs will be considered AML-obliged entities under AMLR for specific transaction categories, requiring capabilities that today exist mainly within banks, fintechs, and other regulated firms.
Football clubs will be required to:
establish robust AML compliance policies and appoint officers
perform CDD so they know who they are conducting business with
implement ongoing monitoring
comply with reporting obligations when suspicious activity emerges
These direct obligations will also demand for internal controls, and training among many other tasks necessary to ensure readiness and compliance.
Even well-resourced clubs with established legal, compliance and technology capabilities may face a considerable transformation effort to close the gap between today's governance framework and the AML standards expected from 10 July 2029.
What professional EU football clubs are doing today cannot be considered AML-grade KYB, because transfer governance, investor diligence, and sponsor reviews is different from AML governance. Some clubs are already preparing by building up an internal AML function that will conduct regulatory impact assessment so they can identify and assess gaps, map counterparties, evaluate technology so they are prepared and protected.
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