Recital 25

(25) The activities of professional football clubs competing in the highest divisions of their national football leagues make them more exposed to higher risks of money laundering and its predicate offences compared to football clubs participating in lower divisions. For example, top-tier football clubs engage in more substantial financial transactions, such as high-value transfers of players and sponsorship deals, might have more complex corporate structures with multiple layers of ownership, and are more likely to engage in cross-border transactions. Those factors make such top-tier clubs more attractive for criminals and provide more opportunities to conceal illicit funds. Therefore, Member States should only be able to exempt professional football clubs participating in the highest division in cases of proven low risk and provided that such clubs have a turnover for each of the previous 2 years of less than EUR 5 000 000 or the equivalent in national currency. Nonetheless, the risk of money laundering is not determined solely by the division in which a football club competes. Lower-division clubs can also be exposed to significant risks of money laundering and its predicate offences. Member States should therefore only be able to exempt from the requirements of this Regulation football clubs in lower divisions that are associated with a proven low risk of money laundering, its predicate offences or terrorist financing.

← Recital 24 · All articles · Recital 26 →

Source: EUR-Lex CELLAR · retrieved 2026-09-04 · Text as adopted (Official Journal); later amendments are not incorporated in this text.