Professional football clubs and football agents will enter the European Union’s anti-money laundering framework from July 2029, forcing the sector to tighten checks on ownership, sponsorship money and transfer-market transactions.
Bruna Szego, chair of the Anti-Money Laundering Authority, outlined the changes in an interview published by Italian football and finance outlet Calcio e Finanza. She stated that clubs and agents will become “obliged entities” under the EU anti-money laundering package approved in 2024, meaning they will have to apply customer due diligence and transaction monitoring controls.
EU football enters the AML net
The 2024 package created Amla, based in Frankfurt, and aims to replace fragmented national approaches with a more unified EU system. Szego explained that professional football clubs and agents were not included in the European Commission’s original proposal, but were added at the request of the European Parliament. The sector was brought in because of its global popularity, large financial flows, cross-border transactions and opaque ownership structures.
Amla will not directly supervise football clubs though. National authorities will remain responsible for supervision, while Amla will guide, support and assess their work to ensure more consistent oversight across the EU.
Owners, sponsors and transfers
The new rules will target the main channels where money laundering risks are considered highest: club investors, sponsors, agents and player transfers. Szego stated that football ownership structures can be complex, making it difficult to identify the ultimate investor, beneficial owner and source of funds. She added that financially fragile clubs may be more exposed to questionable capital because pressure to accept funding can make it harder to ask where money comes from.
Transfers will also face tougher checks. Szego noted that player deals often involve payments to clubs, players and agents, as well as deferred payments, bonuses and fringe benefits. She warned that player values can be inflated and used to disguise transfers of wealth without legitimate justification.
Sponsorship deals will also come under closer scrutiny. Szego said the sponsorship market is large and growing, while many clubs remain financially fragile, creating the risk of economic dependence on sponsors.
A $56bn market
Szego cited estimates showing that the global football market was worth $56bn in 2024 and could reach $70bn by 2030, with around two thirds of that value coming from Europe. Media, sponsorship and ticket sales alone were worth $38bn in 2024. Szego also noted that 51% of the world’s population follows football, equal to around 4 billion people, while the World Cup reaches around 5 billion.
The Amla chair argued that football’s commercial scale and social influence make it attractive to criminals, not only for financial reasons but also because links with prestigious clubs and famous players can provide status and access to influential networks.
Clubs told to prepare now
From July 2029, clubs and agents will need systems to identify clients, check beneficial owners, understand the source of funds and monitor relevant transactions. Szego warned that these systems cannot be set up overnight. She said clubs must start preparing now, talk to supervisors and understand what customer due diligence and transaction monitoring will require in practice.
The rules will follow a risk-based approach. Smaller or lower-risk clubs will not be expected to build the same compliance systems as large clubs, but all covered entities will need procedures to identify and manage money laundering risks.
Breaches could bring penalties
National supervisory authorities will have powers to act against clubs and agents that fail to comply. Szego said the enforcement toolkit could include reprimands, requests for functional reorganisation plans and financial penalties in more serious cases. Penalties would be proportionate to factors including the gravity of the breach and the company’s turnover.
The full interview text is available here.
