Money laundering and embezzlement
Police arrive: raid on football association
December 30, 2025 – 7:26 p.mReading time: 1 min.
Parts of the income from sponsorship and TV rights are said to have flowed into shell companies in the USA. The money was used to finance private flights, luxury yachts and real estate.
Police searched the headquarters of the Argentine Football Association (Afa) as part of an investigation into suspected embezzlement and money laundering. The officials were looking for documents on the business relationships between the association and the company TourProdEnter.
The US-registered company had collected over $260 million in sponsorship money and payments for international broadcast rights on behalf of Afa over the past four years. While most of the funds went to financing the association’s activities, $42 million was transferred to four companies registered in Florida, La Nacion newspaper reported. These companies were founded by suspected front people in Argentina.
The companies paid millions of dollars in bills for private planes, luxury yachts, cars and real estate. It was initially unclear who benefited from this.
Afa confirmed a valid contract with TourProdEnter to protect its business interests abroad. The business relationship was reviewed by courts in the USA and Argentina without any irregularities being found, Afa said in a statement.
The CEO of TourProdEnter was stopped by police at the airport in Buenos Aires as he tried to board a private plane to Uruguay. His private home was also searched. The Afa headquarters was searched just three weeks ago as part of an investigation into another money laundering case.