Episode #26
Cleaning Up Football Finance: The FIFA Clearing House and EU AML Rules
Professional football moves enormous sums of money across borders, often at speed and through complex ownership and payment structures. But are the financial controls around those transactions keeping pace? In this episode of Integrity Insights, Filip Brokes speaks with James Kitching, an Australian sports lawyer, former FIFA Director of Football Regulatory and founder of The FC, about the regulation of football’s global transfer system and the financial crime risks surrounding it. James explains how his career took him from white-collar crime enforcement in Australia to the Asian Football Confederation and FIFA, where he helped develop major regulatory reforms, including the FIFA Clearing House. He discusses how the system automates the payment of training rewards to clubs, while introducing KYC, beneficial ownership, sanctions and source-of-funds checks into parts of the transfer process. The conversation also examines the European Union’s decision to bring professional football clubs within the scope of AML/CFT regulation from 2029. James considers why football is viewed as a high-risk sector, whether clubs are prepared for the new requirements, and whether the EU approach could eventually influence football regulation more widely. The episode offers a practical look at football governance, transfer payments, financial compliance and the challenge of applying conventional AML controls to a fast-moving global industry. Connect with Us: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/integrity-insights/?viewAsMember=true Berlin Risk Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/berlinrisk/?viewAsMember=true Website: https://berlinrisk.com/
