Overview of risk variables and risk factors of money laundering in the football sector

Nogomet se u proteklih trideset godina iz najpopularnijeg sporta na svijetu transformirao u industriju koja nezaustavljivo raste. Odvajanje klubova iz zajednica iz kojih su potekli i ulazak privatnih vlasnika u vlasničke strukture klubova skroz je poremetio nogometnu hijerarhiju te je doveo do sve većeg jaza između bogatih i siromašnih klubova. Takva ekonomska situacija te otvorenost i nereguliranost sektora, učinili su nogomet popularnim i za razne aktere koji su odlučili nogomet koristiti u nezakonite svrhe. Među njima, posebno se ističu perači novca koji svoj ilegalno stečeni novac pokušavaju legitimizirati prikazujući ga kao rezultat svog poslovanja u nogometnom sektoru. Ovaj rad daje pregled kaznenih djela pomoću kojih “nogometni” perači novca najčešće zarade svoja ilegalno stečena bogatstva i pregled kritičnih točki nogometnog sektora koje su najizloženije riziku od pranja novca te pregled slučajeva pranja novca u nogometu. U diskusiji se identificirane kritične točke kvalificiraju u određeni stupanj rizika te se daje prijedlog mjera za umanjenje rizika uz potencijalnu ocjenu kakav bi stupanj rizika bio da se svaka navedena mjera primijeni.In the last thirty years football has transformed from the most popular sport in the world into an industry that is unstoppably growing. The separation of clubs from the communities from which they originated and the entry of private owners into the ownership structures of the clubs completely disrupted the football hierarchy and led to a growing gap between rich clubs and poor clubs. This economic situation and the openness and unregulated nature of the sector have made football popular for various actors who have decided to use football for illegal purposes. Among them, money launderers who try to legitimize their illegally acquired money by presenting it as the result of their business in the football sector stand out. This paper provides an overview of the criminal acts through which football money launderers most often earn their illegally acquired wealth and the critical points of the football sector that are most exposed to the risk of money laundering along with an overview of cases of money laundering in football. In the discussion, the identified critical points are qualified into a certain level of risk, and a proposal for measures to reduce the risk is given with a potential assessment of what the level of risk would be if each of the mentioned measures were applied