Football Leaks

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Football Leaks ( FL ) is an exposure platform in the form of a website that publishes leaks in the field of professional football . The operators of the site are unknown whistleblowers from Portugal around their spokesman Rui Pinto , who appeared in interviews as "John" until his exposure in January 2019. As a motive, he states "to reveal to the fans what highly corrupt system top football has developed into". Football Leaks is referred to as the football version of WikiLeaks .

At the beginning of 2016, the Spiegel reporter Rafael Buschmann received access to 18.6 million documents (1.9  terabytes ) of the Football Leaks data material. By November 2, 2018, he had received over 70 million documents (3.4 terabytes). Buschmann shared the data with the NDR and at least 80 journalists from all over Europe. With the exception of the NDR, these are combined in the European Investigative Collaboration (EIC) research network .

The following media are part of the EIC and publish the revelations: El Mundo (Spain), L'Espresso (Italy), Expresso (Portugal), Falter (Austria), Le Soir and De Standaard (both Belgium), Mediapart and Premières Lignes (both France), Der Spiegel (Germany), NRC Handelsblad (Netherlands), Politiken (Denmark), Sunday Times and Reuters (both United Kingdom), Newsweek Srbija (Serbia), CRJI / The Black Sea (Romania), Nacional (Croatia), Verdens Gang (Norway) as well as Tamedia and Das Magazin (both Switzerland).

history

The platform was founded in September 2015 by anonymous whistleblowers from Portugal. They were motivated by the, from their point of view, questionable player changes in Portugal in the summer of 2015.

After individual publications had been published on the Internet platform LiveJournal , they were censored according to information from Football Leaks, whereupon a separate website was created, which went into operation on November 30, 2015 and is hosted in Russia .

The first entry was written in Portuguese , and since December 2015 most of the publications have been in English .

After original contracts, transfer fees and salaries had been published regularly, almost daily, by April 26, 2016, the operators announced on the same day that they would not publish any more documents for the time being. The reasons given were technical and financial problems, and even at this point in time, the operators were talking about the "biggest data leak in sports history". However, it was announced that it would be active again soon.

As a result, the operators decided to present their revelations more effectively in the future. Co-operations with European media have been concluded and leaks are now available for inspection. The main partner here is Der Spiegel , which found the documents to be genuine.

Football Leaks officially announced its comeback on December 3, 2016, the day before the first leaks were published by European media.

Since November 2, 2018, further research results have been published by various European media companies. The first publications deal with the founding and planning of the European Super League by several European clubs as well as the support from Gianni Infantino for Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester City , even though they contradicted the financial fair play rules.

In January 2019, the identity of "John" was revealed: The then 30-year-old Portuguese Rui Pinto was in Hungarian Budapest arrested by the police and was sitting two days in custody . He was placed under house arrest . In addition, Pinto had to wear an electronic ankle cuff . In March 2019, he was then extradited to his home country Portugal, before the French authorities had copied further data. He is currently in custody in Portugal.

Source and law enforcement

It is unknown how the whistleblowers get access to the documents. After the first publication of the activists who incriminated the Maltese sports rights marketer Doyen Sports , investigations into the portal for blackmail were initiated. Doyen Sports also accused the portal of having obtained the documents through the use of crackers . This is denied by the revelers, but admitted to having "violated several intellectual property laws", which would be "the only way to show the world a bit of what is killing football at the moment".

As part of the wave of publications that began on December 2, 2016, it became known that Real Madrid's General Manager Julio Senn was allegedly the victim of a hacking attack that, according to a Spanish judge, could be related to the Football Leaks publications.

On January 16, 2019, the 30-year-old Portuguese Rui Pinto ("John") was arrested in the Hungarian capital Budapest on the basis of a European arrest warrant . The law enforcement authorities in his home country accuse him of attempted blackmail and possible illegal data acquisition and have requested his extradition. His three lawyers, including William Bourdon, who had also represented Edward Snowden and the prominent banking whistleblowers Hervé Falciani and Antoine Deltour in the past, pointed out that their client had been threatened several times in the past and that “numerous agencies from the world of Football was scheduled to muzzle him at any cost. ”As a whistleblower, he is under special legal protection. They intended to take legal action against a planned transfer to Portugal.

content

Mainly sensitive documents related to Spanish or Portuguese professional clubs are published. Both smaller clubs and top clubs are affected. Leaks from high-value contracts between Real Madrid and its players attracted particular attention . Among other things, the contract documents of James Rodríguez and Luka Modrić were published.

Are confidential documents published on players or teams that do not play in Portugal or Spain, this in the case of publications currently have usually played there before, such as. The transfer agreement on Sergio Aguero from Manchester City and Atletico Madrid or the players themselves or their advisors come from one of the two countries, as in the case of Juan Mata . It is therefore obvious to suspect a possible data leak with Spanish or Portuguese clubs or consultants. The marketer Doyen Sports , who was the first to accept the publication of sensitive documents through Football Leaks, also advises mainly Portuguese and Spanish players and coaches.

However, there are also isolated leaks that - at least superficially - have no relation to the indicators mentioned above. The Dutchman Memphis Depay z. B. did not play in Spain or Portugal and has a Dutch agent. Nevertheless, Football Leaks leaked both his contract with Manchester United and the transfer agreement between United and PSV Eindhoven .

There were very few leaks affecting German clubs or players. The existing ones all come from documents from Spanish clubs. Football Leaks published transfer agreements between Real Madrid and Bayern Munich regarding the players Toni Kroos and Xabi Alonso . Documents on transfers within the Bundesliga have not yet been published.

Leaks

Contracts between FC Twente Enschede and Doyen Sports

Football Leaks first appeared when the activists published contracts between the Dutch first division club FC Twente Enschede and its investor, the sports rights marketer Doyen Sports , on the LiveJournal website in October 2015 . The announcement revealed that FC Twente Enschede had violated regulations for cooperation with investors and was therefore fined 42,500 euros by the Dutch football association KNVB and that the club had been banned from the European Cup for three years .

Transfer agreements between top European clubs

Football Leaks attracted a lot of attention until April 2016 with regularly published transfer agreements including the transfer fee. The most famous leak contained transfer documents from Tottenham Hotspur and Real Madrid about Gareth Bale , which show that the Madrilenians transferred a total of 100,759,418 euros to the Londoners, and not 91,590,000 euros, as Real President Florentino Pérez announced shortly after the transfer. This made the transfer the most expensive of all time.

The reason for the incorrect indication of the transfer amount is believed to be that those responsible at Real Madrid wanted to prevent the 2009 transfer of Cristiano Ronaldo , who was also bought by Real, from being replaced as a record transfer in the statistics. With Real Madrid not commenting on the release, the final transfer fee remains controversial in the scene.

First wave of publications (from December 2016)

On December 2, 2016, the European media involved published the first parts of a leak which, according to the German news magazine Der Spiegel, is the "biggest leak in the history of sport". It contains 18.6 million documents, including original contracts with secret side agreements.

After the first publications, the Spanish newspaper El Mundo was served an injunction by a judge, which is supposed to prohibit further publications, which the paper does not want to adhere to.

The leaked documents reveal, among other things, shady behavior in the tax transfer of various top footballers and coaches who are or were mainly under contract with Real Madrid. About the German international Mesut Özil it became known that the Spanish tax authorities demanded an additional tax payment of 2,017,152 euros and a penalty of 789,963 euros against Özil, against which Özil took legal action.

Information about the multiple world footballer Cristiano Ronaldo says that he used a mailbox company until 2014 in order to save taxes , into which his advertising income flowed. Furthermore, Ronaldo sold his advertising rights until 2020 to two other mailbox companies he founded in the British Virgin Islands . The proceeds from this sale of almost 75 million euros were transferred to Ronaldo's account with a private bank in Switzerland . Ronaldo's behavior was not criminally relevant, as the companies were legal thanks to a special regulation of Spanish tax law in force at the time. A similar approach was also known about José Mourinho , against whom, however, unlike Ronaldo, a fine of several million euros was imposed. On December 7, 2016, the Madrid public prosecutor brought charges against former Real Real players Fábio Coentrão , Ricardo Carvalho , Xabi Alonso and Ángel Di María as well as against former Atlético player Falcao because of dubious tax practices published by Football Leaks .

On June 13, 2017, the Madrid prosecutor brought charges against Ronaldo, accusing him of evading taxes of 14.7 million euros between 2011 and 2014. The prosecution's allegation is, as the leaked documents already suspected, that Ronaldo's corporate network in Ireland and the British Virgin Islands was used to conceal his advertising money from the tax office. Ronaldo's management denies the allegations and announced the publication of documents which should prove that no structure for tax evasion has been established. There was no intention of fraud or cover-up. The company network has existed since Ronaldo's time at Manchester United. The business was known to the British and Spanish authorities. Meanwhile, doubts have arisen about the attorneys' position. In turn, documents have emerged that are supposed to prove that the documents submitted to the prosecutor were deliberately backdated in order to prove Ronaldo's innocence. After the end of the Confederations Cup 2017 , he was to testify for the first time in court on July 31, 2017 [obsolete] . During the same period, it became known that José Mourinho was also being charged with tax evasion by the Madrid Public Prosecutor's Office.

Contract documents previously withheld have also been published. A detail in the contract between Liverpool FC and Mario Balotelli , which was signed in 2014, states that Balotelli will receive a £ 1 million bonus if his "conduct is what is worthy of a Liverpool player".

The contract between Ezequiel Lavezzi and the Chinese club Hebei China Fortune guarantees Lavezzi a salary of 56.7 million US dollars for a period of 23 months.

Contracts for other top players were also published, such as those of Kevin De Bruyne or Eden Hazard .

Second wave of releases (since November 2018)

The German news magazine Der Spiegel , Norddeutsche Rundfunk and Swiss Tamedia have been publishing the research results of the European Investigative Collaboration (EIC) on the Football Leaks in German-speaking countries since November 2, 2018 . The database should include around 3.4 terabytes and over 70 million files. The first publications are about the establishment or planning of a European Super League (ESL) of 15 European professional clubs (including FC Bayern Munich , Real Madrid , FC Barcelona , Manchester United , Arsenal FC , Juventus Turin and AC Milan ), which is planning a spin-off from the European football association UEFA for economic reasons and that there have been irregularities in the context of financial fair play at Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester City . The European Super League is to be privately organized and marketed according to the plans of the clubs involved. In the next few weeks, the media want to publish more information on how to deal with underage footballers in developing countries, disclose the questionable handling of a world star's positive doping test, and report on tax avoidance practice in the Premier League .

Allegations were directed in particular against Gianni Infantino , the current President of FIFA . As the then general secretary of UEFA , he helped the football clubs Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester City to achieve more lenient penalties on the basis of financial fair play . In talks he negotiated so-called "settlement agreements" with the clubs and passed on confidential details from the investigation and suggested compromises - which he was not authorized to do. A letter to Khaldoon Khalifa Al Mubarak , chairman of Man City, said: “You will see that sometimes I have chosen an expression that looks a little 'stricter'. […] Please read the document in exactly this spirit. ”UEFA announced an investigation. Infantino is also alleged to have influenced UEFA's code of ethics by responding to a draft by Vassilios Skouris - chairman of the adjudicatory FIFA ethics chamber - with several references. Preliminary investigations against officials should only be carried out on the instructions of the chairperson of the investigative chamber. The corresponding passage was changed in the new code of ethics, before the secretariat of the investigative chamber was able to initiate preliminary investigations itself.

literature

documentation

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Shadowy Football Leaks site exposes soccer clubs , on awfulannouncing.com, accessed December 3, 2016.
  2. ↑ a b c Unmasked "John": Fear of extradition , recherche.sportschau.de, February 1, 2019, accessed on February 1, 2019.
  3. ↑ An interview with Football Leaks makers , on spiegel.de, accessed on December 3, 2016.
  4. ↑ Football Leaks, the most important questions and answers , on spiegel.de, accessed on December 7, 2016.
  5. ↑ Football Has Its Own Version Of WikiLeaks Now , on pastemagazine.com, accessed December 2, 2016
  6. Jump up ↑ Football Leaks: John's Dangerous Treasure. In: Spiegel Online. Retrieved December 18, 2016 .
  7. ↑ football "greedy business". (No longer available online.) In: heute-journal . ZDF , archived from the original on December 23, 2016 .;
  8. ↑ a b c d e Football Leaks: Bayern Munich, Gianni Infantino, Manchester City and PSG. In: Spiegel Online. Der Spiegel, November 2, 2018, accessed on November 3, 2018 .
  9. ↑ a b A light falls on football , on falter.at, accessed on December 3, 2016.
  10. ^ Cooperation partner of Spiegel , on spiegel.de, accessed on December 3, 2016.
  11. ↑ a b c Controversial Football Leaks causes an uproar , on zeit.de, accessed on December 3, 2016.
  12. ^ Bem Vindo ao football leaks , on footballleaks2015.com, accessed December 3, 2016.
  13. ↑ Break announcement , on footballleaks2015.com, accessed December 3, 2016.
  14. ↑ Football Leaks takes a break , on spiegel.de, accessed on December 3, 2016.
  15. ↑ Football Leaks - Phase 2 , at footballleaks2015.wordpress.com, accessed December 3, 2016.
  16. ^ C. Brönnimannm, M. Stäuble, M. Krogerus, O. Zihlmann: Giannis Game. In: Das Magazin ( Tamedia ), No. 44 of November 3, 2018, pp. 11–27.
  17. ↑ a b Football Leaks, Spanish judge wants to ban revelations , on spiegel.de, accessed on December 6, 2016.
  18. ↑ Whistleblower arrested by Football Leaks. Spiegel Online, January 17, 2019, accessed on the same day.
  19. ^ James Rodriguez Contract , at footballleaks2015.wordpress.com, accessed December 3, 2016.
  20. ^ Luka Modric contract , at footballleaks2015.wordpress.com, accessed December 3, 2016.
  21. ^ Transfer Aguero , at footballleaks2015.wordpress.com, accessed December 3, 2016.
  22. ^ Mata Contract , at footballleaks2015.wordpress.com, accessed December 3, 2016.
  23. ↑ Overview of the players and coaches advised by Doyen Sports ( memento from December 5, 2016 in the Internet Archive ), on doyensports.com, accessed on December 4, 2016.
  24. ↑ Contract and Transfer Memphis Depay , at footballleaks2015.wordpress.com, accessed December 3, 2016.
  25. ^ Luka Modric contract , at footballleaks2015.wordpress.com, accessed December 3, 2016.
  26. ^ Xabi Alonso Transfer , at footballleaks2015.wordpress.com, accessed December 3, 2016.
  27. ↑ Twente Enschede, new disclosure platform excites international football , on sueddeutsche.de, accessed on December 3, 2016.
  28. ↑ Bale not more expensive than Ronaldo , on rp-online.de, accessed on December 4, 2016.
  29. ↑ a b Bale is more expensive than Ronaldo , on welt.de, accessed on December 4, 2016.
  30. ^ Gareth Bale Contract leak , on telegraph.co.uk, accessed December 4, 2016.
  31. ↑ Football Leaks Reveals Dirty Businesses in Professional Football , on spiegel.de, accessed on December 2, 2016.
  32. ^ Communication from the EIC , on eic.network, accessed on December 6, 2016.
  33. ↑ Spanish judge wants to stop Football Leaks publication , on sueddeutsche.de, accessed on December 7, 2016.
  34. ↑ Özil had to pay an additional € 2 million in taxes ( memento of December 3, 2016 in the Internet Archive ), on spiegel.de, accessed on December 2, 2016
  35. ↑ a b Mesut Özil had to pay additional taxes , on welt.de, accessed on December 3, 2016.
  36. ↑ Cristiano Ronaldo smuggled millions through mailbox companies in the Caribbean , on spiegel.de, accessed on December 2, 2016
  37. ↑ Jose Mourinho and the Millionaire Game ( Memento from December 7, 2016 in the Internet Archive ), on spiegel.de, accessed on December 7, 2016.
  38. ↑ Tax authorities are investigating against Xabi Alonso , among others , on spiegel.de, accessed on December 7, 2016.
  39. ↑ Christoph Henrichs, Rafael Buschmann, Michael Wulzinger: Public Prosecutor's Office brings charges against Ronaldo. In: Der Spiegel . June 13, 2017. Retrieved June 14, 2017 .
  40. ↑ Cristiano Ronaldo rejects allegations of tax fraud. In: FAZ. June 14, 2017. Retrieved June 14, 2017 .
  41. ↑ Ronaldo denies tax evasion. In: Spiegel. June 13, 2017. Retrieved June 14, 2017 .
  42. ↑ Ronaldo under suspicion of fraud. In: FAZ. June 21, 2017. Retrieved June 22, 2017 .
  43. ↑ Cristiano Ronaldo has to testify on July 31st about the tax affair. In: FAZ. June 20, 2017. Retrieved June 20, 2017 .
  44. ↑ José Mourinho is charged with tax evasion in Spain. Retrieved June 20, 2017 .
  45. ↑ The wonderful world of football contracts , at cms.falter.at, accessed on December 7, 2016.
  46. ↑ The $ 56.7 million man , on spiegel.de, accessed December 7, 2016.
  47. ↑ Football Leaks Reveals Succulent Red Devil Contracts , on grenzecho.net, accessed December 7, 2016.
  48. ↑ Super league, back room deals and Co. - the cornerstones of the new Football Leaks. In: 90minuten.at. November 2, 2018, accessed November 3, 2018 .
  49. ↑ Football Leaks: Infantino helped ManCity and PSG pass mild FFP penalties ; transfermarkt.de citing Der Spiegel and dpa
  50. ↑ Uefa wants to examine allegations against Infantino ; Spiegel Online from November 4, 2018; accessed the same day