Dubious transfers, fraudulent contracts, corruption: Belgian football in turmoil

Thanks to the information provided by a players' agent arrested in 2018, the judicial authorities have completed three years of investigation which should lead to the referral of dozens of people to court.

While he hoped to calmly approach the semi-final of the League of Nations against France, Thursday, October 7, in Turin, the Belgian football world began to tremble. And not because his Red Devils, in search of a success that is not only esteem, feared this meeting with the appearance of revenge after the defeat (1-0) of 2018, in the semi-finals of the Cup of the world. Rather, it was the revelations made by the lawyer of a players' agent that shook all the protagonists of the national championship.

M e Kris Luyckx was present on the set of the Flemish public channel VRT, Monday, October 4. Lawyer for Dejan Veljkovic, one of the most famous players' agents in the country, he claimed that around fifty questionable transfers, around a hundred fraudulent contracts and the activities of around forty people (club managers, coaches, perhaps players) would soon be at the heart of a great trial.

Almost all clubs involved

His client, in exchange for the promise of a reduced sentence (five years suspended prison sentence and 80,000 euros suspended fine), agreed to explain to investigators, for two hundred hours, everything he knew of the practices in force in national football.

On October 10, 2018, police raided 44 addresses across the country, looking for clues to a series of cases involving alleged embezzlement. Following this operation, Mr. Veljkovic was indicted for participation in a criminal organization, forgery and tax evasion. He was, however, going to conclude an agreement with the prosecution providing him with protection and secrecy in exchange for information.

It is these latter which have enabled the judicial authorities to complete three years of investigation, which will soon lead to the referral of dozens of people to the courts. They are "the pathetic characters of a story without morals" , writes the daily De Standaard.

Almost all Belgian professional clubs are, according to M e Luyckx, involved in the questionable practices brought to light. "If the Federation wants to be consistent, few clubs will play in Ligue 1 next year, because many will be demoted," says the lawyer.

In 2018, a federal magistrate had cited the names of FC Bruges , Standard de Liège, Genk, Lokeren and FC Mechelen, winner of the European Cup winners' Cup in 1988. The investigation would have provided information. other clues on the corruption of arbitrators, the payment of unreported commissions and various tax evasion.