Thomas Peeters, sport economist at Erasmus School of Economics, discusses in the Belgian radio program De Wereld Vandaag the scandal in Belgian football concerning money laundering and matchfixing. Peeters was somewhat surprised by the scandal. ‘In a way, football has never been immune to financial malpractice, but the scale of this research and the way the intervention is done is surprising.’
Peeters does not place the blame so much on the agents of the players, such as Mogi Bayat. ‘Agents enjoy a bad reputation, which is caused by the fact that they have an important position in Belgian football. They can exert a lot of influence through the current transfer system.’ According to Peeters, this reputation is only partly justified and the entire transfer system should be reconsidered. ‘It is a business model which places the power over the in hands of the agents.’ Peeters advocates that there should be independent monitoring of players’ agents, rather than monitoring by football association and clubs as is currently the case.
- More information
For more information, you can read the article on VRT News, 10 October 2018 (in Dutch) or you can listen to the interview (from min 38:00).