How to comprehend modern sport’s integrity issues in a different way? And what complementary strategy is needed to enrich the currently dominant legislative approach? This article describes the evolution of sports ethics, followed by a systemic understanding of sport’s integrity issues. From this analysis, a recipe towards sustainable solutions will be presented.

This article follows from the 2022 publication of a book by the same author on financial malpractices in the world of professional football, titled Ostrageous. As the title suggests, that book both covered the outrageous business patterns and habits – and the associated financial crime risks – that have manifested themselves in this line of industry and our inclination to turn a blind eye to these developments (portrayed by the image of the ostrich). The article focusses on the aftermath of the publication of the book and addresses the main reasons why the image of the ostrich has turned out to be even more powerful than the author thought at first sight. While the book has led to a vivid debate in the academic world on the future of professional football, the professional football industry itself remained reluctant in accepting invitations to discuss the crime problems in the sector more in depth. In the second part of the article, the author suggests some strategies that may contribute in making the market of European professional football more receptive to a constructive debate about the astronomical transfer fees, the ease in which extremely wealthy investors can buy their way into clubs, the schemes used to evade tax or launder illegal assets, and a number of other structural problems facing the industry.

In recent decades, football has evolved from a purely sporting activity into a global economic phenomenon. Along with this metamorphosis, questions of corporate governance and compliance have come to the fore when it comes to the governance of (professional) football clubs. A good example is the consequences of, and efforts to prevent, criminal activities in the form of money laundering. In recent years, the risks of money laundering activities through the professional football sector have often been highlighted by, for example, European Union institutions. In Belgium, an alleged money laundering scandal in professional football led to legislative measures. This contribution considers the application of Belgium’s preventive anti-money laundering framework to professional football. It concludes that this legal framework is not a miracle solution to the problems facing the sector, and furthermore, the application of this framework raises several questions.

The Zheyun Ye case is a well-documented football scandal in Belgium in which a Chinese businessman gained influence over professional football clubs in the years 2004-2006 for the purpose of fixing matches and betting on the outcomes of these manipulated matches. Ye and more than thirty others involved were prosecuted for private bribery related to match-fixing and complex financial constructions linked to money laundering. In this contribution, the authors discuss the implications of the Ye case from the perspective of the Harm Assessment Framework. This theoretical framework allows to map the consequences of crime from the perspective of the bearers of the resulting harm. Additionally, the authors use social network analysis to analyze the financial exchanges between Ye and other involved actors. By doing so, they hope to show the breadth of the consequences of this case and thereby create more (political) awareness around the urgency of the problem.

In this article the authors briefly consider how to deal with racism and discrimination in practice and with the social response to racism in football. They briefly look back at the institution and commitment of the Mijnals Committee as well as ahead to the future. The authors do this as much as possible on the basis of concrete examples and by referring to research, for example in the field of unconscious stereotyping. They also address the question of whether the Mijnals Committee should have withdrawn, using the decision not to wear the OneLove band (a captain’s armband that stands for inclusiveness in football) as one of the examples. It is primarily the leaders in sport who have a duty to propagate the fact that racism and discrimination have no place, and to turn a desire for change into a desire for action.

The profit-driven nature of contemporary football, a global billion-dollar industry, leads to children with dreams of becoming professional footballers sometimes finding themselves in a vulnerable position. When dreams become ‘business’, children can fall into unhealthy dependency relationships and decisions can be made where the best interests of the child are not the primary concern. Selection teams prove to be a dubious tool in this regard. Commercial football schools, player’s agents, professional football organizations and amateur clubs, all have a share in this – intentionally or unintentionally. It is therefore up to them jointly to pay attention to the interests of the child in this system, so that football is not at odds with the well-being of young people.

Kickboxing has undergone a remarkable transformation in the Netherlands in recent decades. The maligned full-contact combat sport with links to the criminal underworld changed into a mainstream activity serving a broad market. This article outlines the background against which this change took place and mentions three levels: national and international society (macro), the gym and the criminal scene (meso), and the fighter and the consumer (micro). In addition to being a martial art, kickboxing is looked upon as a commodity that is put on the market and consumed.