Fraud in the footballing industry

Abstract

Fraud and corruption can manifest in various sectors, including financial services like banks and insurance providers. Additionally, they can occur in contexts such as contracts and the football industry. In a general sense, fraud transpires when decisions are made with the aim of providing personal benefits, illicit gains, or profits to wrongdoers. The footballing industry has not been immune to the prevalence of fraud, with several forms of fraudulent activities becoming increasingly prominent within it. These encompass match-fixing, tax fraud, player age fraud, doping, transfer fraud, ticketing fraud, financial fraud, agent fraud, sham academies and trials, referee manipulation, betting fraud, and contract fraud. The goal of this thesis is to answer the following research questions: • Are the measures in place within the footballing industry successfully mitigating or eliminating fraud? • Is there any financial impact of fraud within the footballing industry? • What are the reasons behind stakeholders committing fraud in football? • What are the risks and threats that fraud brings along to the football industry? This will be done by performing a systematic literature review, using an inductive approach as well as adopting a qualitative method approach. The literature reviewed was then analysed by means of thematic analysis. The analysis derived four themes: Internal fraud being more evident than external fraud, the motives for committing fraud in football, Governance failures and lastly, Combatting football fraud. The research conducted in this thesis had certain limitations that could be explored in future studies. Firstly, the systematic literature review may have contained bias, potentially causing the omission of crucial information on the subject. Different data collection methods may yield alternative findings compared to those presented in this thesis. Furthermore, the topics of religious beliefs and the technological impact on the subject were only briefly addressed. It is recognised that delving into these subjects in greater detail and conducting in-depth analyses could uncover new findings or themes not explored in this thesis. This thesis has put forth several recommendations aimed at mitigating fraud in football. These suggestions encompass the need for more frequent seminars and lectures, targeting not only footballers but also club employees and staff. The objective of these sessions should be to educate the audience about fraud, how to recognise it, and the appropriate steps to take when encountering such criminal activities. It's vital that the audience gains a comprehensive understanding of fraud and its potential repercussions, as there appears to be a lack of awareness regarding the significant impact fraud can have on one's life. Initiating these seminars at a young age for footballers is particularly crucial, as early education can enhance the prevention and mitigation of future fraud incidents. Additionally, considering the technological advancements available today, there's a recommendation to develop and implement tools for monitoring and detecting fraudsters. While this study did not extensively explore the technological aspects of such cases, it encourages further research in this area.