Hello, Hi Visionaries!

The ownership structure of a football club determines its financial crime risk profile.

I spent years in financial crime within global markets and now I apply the same lens into football governance, and the pattern is consistent across every asset class I've worked in: capital flows create risk, and complex structures multiply it. In football, where billions cross borders with surprisingly little oversight, the ownership model is the risk model.

This matters for your day-to-day work. Sponsor screening. Player transfer compliance. Board liability. Regulatory scrutiny. All of it traces back to ownership structure.

Here's what you need to know about the five main models and where the risk actually sits.

PE funds buy clubs for growth plays, turnarounds or exits. They work through special purpose vehicles across multiple jurisdictions, moving capital fast.

Where the Risk Sits

Layered SPVs across Jersey, Luxembourg and the Cayman Islands make it genuinely hard to identify who controls the capital. This opacity isn't always malicious. Often it's tax structuring. But opacity is opacity, and it can be exploited.

Transaction velocity is the multiplier. Management fees, intercompany loans, capital calls. Constant cross-border movement. Each one is a potential blind spot if your controls aren't tight.

Then there's the governance gap. PE executives are excellent at financial engineering. Most have zero experience in sports regulation or integrity frameworks. That knowledge deficit creates real exposure, especially around stadium deals, planning permissions and relationships with local government where bribery risk lives.

The one people miss? LP screening. If the fund hasn't properly vetted its limited partners, sanctioned individuals can be in your ownership structure without you knowing.

Practical Impact

Proceeds of Crime Act powers let authorities freeze assets if tainted capital enters the structure. That doesn't just hurt one club. It destabilises league competition, broadcast deals and the wider ecosystem.

For nation states, football is soft power. Global positioning, city branding, long-term strategic influence.

Where the Risk Sits

Ultimate controllers are typically politically exposed persons or directly state-linked. That creates immediate sanctions risk, especially where states face export controls or geopolitical restrictions.

Source of wealth matters. Capital from high-risk or low-transparency jurisdictions needs enhanced due diligence. Sometimes you see overlaps between political actors and illicit networks, which introduces organised crime exposure into what looks like a legitimate state investment.

Every interaction with football governing bodies, bidding processes or regional governments carries elevated bribery risk. The stakes are high, the competitions are valuable, and the pressure is intense.

Practical Impact

These clubs need above-market due diligence standards. Enhanced PEP monitoring, political exposure mapping, geopolitical risk scanning. Not nice-to-haves. Essentials. A sanctions designation freezes assets overnight, and the reputational damage extends far beyond the balance sheet.

Scale is the driver. Shared infrastructure, data consolidation, player trading synergies, brand leverage across markets.

Where the Risk Sits

These networks are natural channels for moving money across borders. Inter-club loans, player transfers, shared service agreements. Constant flows between jurisdictions. Without strong controls, these are textbook layering opportunities.

Try identifying ultimate beneficial ownership across ten clubs in eight jurisdictions. Each one has local minority investors, different regulatory requirements, varying transparency standards. It's not straightforward.

Talent pipelines add complexity. Recruiting from Africa, South America, Eastern Europe means operating in regions with higher agent corruption risk and weaker regulatory oversight. One weak link creates contagion risk across the entire network.

The kicker? A sanctioned minority investor in one satellite club can contaminate your whole portfolio, even if they're nowhere near your flagship entity.

Practical Impact

Multi-club groups need regulatory-grade governance everywhere. The UK's Independent Football Regulator framework shows where standards are heading. If you haven't professionalised compliance across your network, you're already behind.

Democratic governance and cultural identity. Common in Spain, Germany, Scandinavia. Built on tradition and community connection.

Where the Risk Sits

Elected boards bring passion and commitment. They often lack technical expertise in financial crime, AML or compliance frameworks. That creates gaps in critical control functions.

Open membership structures can be exploited. Ultras groups, local political actors, even criminal networks can influence decisions through voting blocs or social pressure. Board elections, agent negotiations, local procurement all become potential corruption vectors.

These clubs receive payments globally. Sponsorships, donations, membership fees. Without proper screening, funds from high-risk jurisdictions enter undetected.

Practical Impact

Fan-owned clubs need professionalised compliance. Part-time or fractional is fine. But you need it. Democratic structures are valuable. They also require professional controls to function properly. Otherwise, you get governance capture by groups with interests that don't align with the club's long-term health.

Grassroots identity. Local pride. Often volunteer-run with limited resources and minimal regulatory oversight.

Where the Risk Sits

Highest vulnerability in football. Cash-heavy operations with minimal controls are ideal entry points for match-fixing syndicates, betting manipulation, local criminal networks.

Most community clubs don't have compliance officers, investor screening, structured reporting. Pay-to-play arrangements, unrecorded sponsorships, local procurement often lack documentation or oversight.

Sponsor screening is rare. That opens the door for crypto firms, offshore entities, politically exposed individuals to enter the football ecosystem at the grassroots level where scrutiny is lowest.

Practical Impact

Community clubs are the most likely laundering entry point in football. Money enters through opaque sponsorships or academy investments, then migrates up the pyramid through player transfers and commercial relationships. By the time it reaches the professional game, its origin is obscured.

The regulatory environment is moving faster than most clubs realise. UK Independent Football Regulator. EU Sixth Anti-Money Laundering Directive. This is where it's all heading.

Clubs treating governance as box-ticking are already behind. The organisations that thrive will be the ones that understand financial crime risk as strategic, not administrative.

For those of us working at this intersection, there's genuine opportunity to shape how football professionalises its governance. The expertise from commodities, global markets, cross-border capital flows translates directly into modern football operations. As boards strengthen oversight, they need people who understand both financial crime typologies and commercial strategy.

The question isn't whether football adopts institutional grade governance standards.

The question is which clubs will be ready when the regulatory tide comes in, and which advisors they'll turn to for help navigating it.