Secretive Soccer Fund Says Not Giving in to Hackers Led to Leak
- ``We have nothing to hide,'' Doyen Sports says in statement
- Documents outline agreements over stars like Neymar and Falcao
Barcelona's Brazilian forward Neymar gestures during the Spanish league 'Clasico' football match Real Madrid CF vs FC Barcelona at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium in Madrid on November 21, 2015.
Photographer: Javier Soriano/AFP via Getty ImagesDoyen Sports Investments, one of the biggest firms in the now-banned soccer player futures market, says scores of sensitive documents were leaked online by hackers because it didn’t give in to their unspecified demands.
The documents published on Football_Leaks.com provide an unprecedented glimpse into a largely secretive practice in which investors loan money to often cash-strapped soccer teams in return for a percentage of the fees they get when a player is traded to another team. FIFA, the governing body for world soccer, banned investors last year from the $4 billion global player trading market amid complaints funds were exerting too much influence.