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Recent reports suggest FIFA instructed European clubs to ignore sanctions on Russian teams. This isn't a sporting technicality. It's a governance failure that puts clubs at legal and financial risk, undermines the global financial system, and reveals FIFA's credibility problem. If football wants to be taken seriously as an asset class, its governance must meet the standards expected of global institutions.

Hello, Hi Visionaries!

Football likes to present itself as a unifying force. But when FIFA reportedly instructed European clubs to ignore sanctions on Russian teams. It was a governance failure with financial, legal and geopolitical consequences that reach far beyond the pitch.

This matters to anyone working at the intersection of sport and business. Because it goes directly to how football interacts with the global financial system, and right now, that interaction is broken.

Let me be clear about what sanctions actually do. They exist to restrict money flowing into regimes involved in conflict. They're one of the few mechanisms we have to slow the economic engine behind war.

When football's governing body encourages clubs to continue making payments into Russian football, it places those clubs in direct conflict with national and international law. Most Russian clubs operate within ownership structures tied to the state or sanctioned individuals. Money flowing into those systems doesn't remain neutral. It has real consequences, including the indirect support of the war in Ukraine.

From a financial crime perspective, this isn't ambiguity. It's risk.

In global markets, institutions are expected to respect sanctions regardless of commercial pressure. No commodities trader, bank or infrastructure investor would accept "sporting rules" as a defence for breaching sanctions law. They simply wouldn't get away with it.

Football, however, has long operated as if it sits outside these norms. FIFA's reported stance risks turning clubs into unwilling participants in sanctions circumvention. That undermines the credibility of the financial system and exposes clubs to legal, regulatory and reputational fallout they may not even see coming.

This is where my background in financial crime prevention and global markets becomes relevant. I've seen what happens when organisations think they're exempt from the rules everyone else follows. It never ends well.

Gianni Infantino frequently states that "football unites the world." Yet FIFA's actions increasingly contradict that message.

Awarding a peace prize to a US president who faced scrutiny over immigration rhetoric and the use of lethal force already raised questions. Whatever your view of that presidency, the decision making process was never clearly explained. That lack of transparency matters.

When this opacity combines with guidance that appears to sidestep sanctions related to an active war, the credibility gap widens. To the public, this doesn't look like diplomacy. It looks like poor governance.

Trust isn't lost through one decision. It's lost through patterns.

Clubs cannot rely on governing bodies to protect them from geopolitical risk. They must build their own safeguards.

That means sanctions and ownership screening as standard practice. It means clear internal escalation when sporting rules clash with law. It means board level understanding of financial crime risk. And it means treating transfers and payments like any other cross border transaction, because that's exactly what they are.

In other industries, this is non negotiable. Football is simply catching up.

Football is becoming an asset class shaped by geopolitics, state capital and global investment flows. Governance is no longer a compliance exercise. It can be used as a strategic advantage.

Clubs that understand this will protect their value and credibility. Those that ignore it will face consequences far beyond the pitch.

As someone working at the intersection of financial crime, global markets and sport, I see this as a defining moment. Football needs governance that can stand independently, even when the system around it becomes unstable. That's where the next generation of leadership in the game will emerge.

If football wants to claim it unites the world, its governance must reflect the standards expected of global institutions. Transparency, accountability and respect for the financial system aren't optional. They're the price of credibility.

And credibility, in the end, is what allows the game to grow.

This newsletter is for informational purposes only and is not financial or business advice in any capacity. The information shared is our thoughts & opinions and does not represent the opinions of any other person, business, entity, or sponsor. The contents of this newsletter also should not be used in any public or private domain without the authors express permission.