There have been alarms in the past that there is corruption in Swedish football in connection with, for example, player transfers. A new report from the police's National Operations Department (NOA) confirms the picture.

There are actors with clear links to organized crime who act as rogue football agents, without a license, on the Swedish football market, according to the police report.

Above all, gang criminals target players from socio-economically disadvantaged areas, and this applies to both young talents and established players.

New requirements from 1 October

Since the summer of 2018, it has been a requirement that a football agent is registered with the Swedish Football Association to mediate players between clubs, but the police believe that the regulations are "circumvented relatively easily".

As of October 1, a license from the International Football Federation (Fifa) is required to act as agents, but the police believe that even that license is a blow in the air.

"This new regulation is unlikely to significantly affect the rogue intermediaries as they have both the contacts and the resources to continue to use licensed agents as goalkeepers in the brokerage process," the police write.

Actively searching for talent

Gang criminals also actively seek out youth tournaments and youth academies to find future talents that they can make money from in the future. Criminals should also have contacts within academies in order to influence everything from coaching decisions to board decisions.

At present, it is mainly a problem in Stockholm, Gothenburg and Malmö, but the police believe that the phenomenon of rogue football agents will spread in the country and to the lower divisions in the future.

Women's football, with its economic growth, also risks being hit by rogue agents to a greater extent in the future, the police write.

SEE ALSO: Explosive increase in bets on women's football

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Explosive increase in bets on women's football Photo: SVT/Bildbyrån