Football clubs and money laundering obligations

Abstract

Football is followed by millions worldwide in an almost religious manner, bringing people together and evoking emotion. It is a field riddled with regulatory deficiencies in terms of money laundering. This gives rise to criminals having an outlet to launder their money. The FATF and the EU have recognised football as a money laundering tool a couple of decades ago and have provided thorough reports on the matter. Yet, this has only minimally filtered down to national associations, with an increase of awareness in the past few years. Accordingly, the struggle is to build and implement a comprehensive approach that could prepare football clubs and provide the corrective armour for them to protect themselves, their players, and the game. Nonetheless, it seems that while it is natural for criminals to become more sophisticated, authorities lag significantly in providing regulations to combat money laundering in football and having the legislator recognise this danger and enforce it in law. For these reasons, this dissertation will be exploring the current situation of money laundering in football that is regulated in a binding or non-binding manner as set up by a variety of organisation and authorities, including Malta. This will lead to a comparison of the situations at present in different countries in Europe. Moreover, a variety of case studies will be discussed to highlight any deficiencies and what can be changed. Recommendations which can be implemented to move forward in an effective manner to minimise and deter money laundering in football and its repercussions shall also be discussed.