Steve Menary

Silent slaughter - josimarfootball.com Enough footballers were killed by the Iranian Islamist regime in the space of forty-eight hours in January to make up two full teams. Fifa’s response? Silence.

New for @josimarfootball.bsky.social. I wish to express thanks and my admiration to Zohreh Abdollahkhani, who found the courage and the strength to write this heart-rending piece, commissioned before Iran was attacked by the US and Israel.

josimarfootball.com/2026/03/05/s...

UCL Diversity Index 2025/26: new entrants at their lowest level in 14 years - Union of European Clubs - News Created by independent journalist Steve Menary, the UEC's UCL Diversity Index provides an overview of the state of competitive balance at the top of the European football pyramid

www.ueceurope.org/post/ucl-div...

Powerpoint slide with a tweet from illegal betting company Babu88, announcing their sponsorship of England's tour of Sri Lanka. Brook is pictured trying to ground his bat, with the betting sponsors visible on the advertising hoardings in the background.

Our final #CRN2026 panel is focused on Governance and Sustainability.

@stevemenary.bsky.social shares worrying findings about illegal betting sponsorship, which doubled between 2021 and 2025.

Harry Brook, Steve argues, is (inadvertently) helping to promote illegal betting in the screenshot below.

Thanks @philippeauclair.bsky.social ❤️ should point out it’s a joint piece with the marvellous @samindrakunti.bsky.social

A YouTube channel called VORA has posted a video which is a complete rip-off of the work @stevemenary.bsky.social has done on how illegal sports betting operators are using FIFA+ live football streaming. Pure theft. Zero credit. Just fishing for clicks at the expense of a proper journalist.

Thanks Rod, I was rather hoping it might have more impact 😬

Great piece by Steve. We are looking forward to his presentation on this topic at our conference in 2 weeks time. #CRN2026

EXPOSED: the rise of illegal and unregulated betting companies in international cricket What does a betting firm PR man have in common with a London lingerie model and a Malaysian punk singer? They have all been used as fronts for dodgy sports sponsors

EXPOSED: the rise of illegal and unregulated betting companies in international cricket
Brilliant piece by @stevemenary.bsky.social
sportingintelligence832.substack.com/p/exposed-th...

EXPOSED: the rise of illegal and unregulated betting companies in international cricket What does a betting firm PR man have in common with a London lingerie model and a Malaysian punk singer? They have all been used as fronts for dodgy sports sponsors

Why is England’s cricket team unwittingly being used to promote illegal betting? Time for a rethink on the rules? For @sportingintel.bsky.social more in person at the next @cricketacademic.bsky.social conference on Feb 26 open.substack.com/pub/sporting...

FC DAC 1904 On The Up In Slovakian Football | Steve Menary FC DAC 1904 On The Up In Slovakian Football | Steve Menary - Viktor Orban seeks to expand his sphere of influence past Hungary’s borders

www.worldsoccer.com/world-soccer...

Why investment funds could trigger football’s next crisis Firms that specialise in buying and selling companies are using complex offshore arrangements to channel insurance money into football clubs. This Bermuda Triangle strategy has already ended badly for...

Is football at the frontline of the next financial crisis? Private Equity firms are using complex offshore arrangements to channel insurance money into football. This Bermuda Triangle strategy ended badly for 777 Partners, but could be a preview of the future.

www.playthegame.org/news/investm...

Arctic Winter Games 2026 Join us for the Arctic Winter Games 2026, a culturally significant, community-driven sporting event that unites thousands of athletes from across the circumpolar North.

Next Arctic Winter Games at Whitehorse in March should be interesting as Greenland and Alaska both sending teams www.awg2026.org

REVEALED: FA targets low-hanging fruit for illegal betting as game drowns in gambling ads An investigation for Sporting Intelligence details the disproportionate number of betting charges against non-league players as the pro game embraces gambling

More than 200 non league players and staff charged by the FA for betting offences since 2015 - 3/4 of all charges. Why is the FA going after easy targets? On Substack for @sportingintel.bsky.social open.substack.com/pub/sporting...

Same old, same old - josimarfootball.com Correspondence between the Premier League and the British government suggests that, contrary to expectations, elite English football clubs will be allowed to pursue commercial relationships with illeg...

New for @josimarfootball.bsky.social. And depressing. Correspondence between the Premier League and the British government suggests that elite English football clubs will be allowed to pursue commercial relationships with illegal betting operators in the future.

josimarfootball.com/2026/01/13/s...

FIFA+ livestreams fuel global in-play betting markets New research from Play the Game shows how unlicensed betting companies are using FIFA’s own streaming platform to offer in-play wagers on low-level matches worldwide. Many smaller federations are unaw...

From Aruba and Mauritania to the Seychelles, FIFA is commercialising as many lower-level games as possible via FIFA+.

Stats Perform will be collecting the data for betting operators.

Here is more background. With @stevemenary.bsky.social.

www.playthegame.org/news/fifa-li...

FIFA+ livestreams fuel global in-play betting markets New research from Play the Game shows how unlicensed betting companies are using FIFA’s own streaming platform to offer in-play wagers on low-level matches worldwide. Many smaller federations are unaw...

www.playthegame.org/news/fifa-li...

There are now at least 444 clubs around in some form of multi club ownership www.linkedin.com/posts/steve-...

Without FIFA, no-one in those 150 countries would be capable of organising any football? That is one of the crassest things that fool has ever said

FIFA+ livestreams fuel global in-play betting markets New research from Play the Game shows how unlicensed betting companies are using FIFA’s own streaming platform to offer in-play wagers on low-level matches worldwide. Many smaller federations are unaw...

Before offering a game, bookies want a broadcast or livestream and access to live data. FIFA’s streaming service FIFA+ and its data company friends are doing this - without the clubs even knowing! With @samindrakunti.bsky.social for @playthegame-org.bsky.social www.playthegame.org/news/fifa-li...

UCL Diversity Index 2025/26: new entrants at their lowest level in 14 years - Union of European Clubs - News Created by independent journalist Steve Menary, the UEC's UCL Diversity Index provides an overview of the state of competitive balance at the top of the European football pyramid

www.ueceurope.org/post/ucl-div...

The Magnificent Anderson - josimarfootball.com Illegal betting operators routinely use actors to impersonate their owners and executives, but none of them has ever gone as far in this respect as AC Milan's brand new "official betting partner in As...

From the crazy world of illegal gambling, one of the craziest stories we at @josimarfootball.bsky.social have come across in our investigations (and that is saying something). Who is "William Anderson", "founder" of Milan's new Asian betting partner sureWin? josimarfootball.com/2025/12/15/t...

FIFA+ livestreams fuel global in-play betting markets New research from Play the Game shows how unlicensed betting companies are using FIFA’s own streaming platform to offer in-play wagers on low-level matches worldwide. Many smaller federations are unaw...

I spent a couple of weeks watching FIFA+.

Here's the story with @stevemenary.bsky.social. For @playthegame-org.bsky.social.

www.playthegame.org/news/fifa-li...

Unlicensed betting companies are using FIFA’s own streaming platform to offer in-play wagers on low-level matches worldwide. Many smaller federations are unaware their match data is exploited this way, write @stevemenary.bsky.social & @samindrakunti.bsky.social 👇

www.playthegame.org/news/fifa-li...

9.00am - REGISTRATION 9.30am to 10.30am - Panel 1: Gender Akanksha Kohli, Dominic Malcolm (Loughborough University) & Philippa Velija (University of Roehampton) - “I think I could see the turning point…people just came for good cricket”: Female Cricketers' Experiences of Professionalization Georgia Norman (Durham University) - How Has The Hundred Impacted the Lived Experience of Women Cricketers in England? Max He (Xi’an Jiaotong University) - State-feminism, Olympic status and gender relations in Chinese cricket 10:30am to 11.30am - Panel 2: History Anand Rampersad (University of the West Indies) - Issues and Challenges to the Development of West Indies Women’s Cricket Fiona Reid (Bayfirth Research CIC), Susan Warren (SKS Scotland CIC) and Raf Nicholson (Bournemouth University) - The Unexpected Role of Fenners in Scotland Women's Cricket Rod Edmond (University of Kent) - Cricket and its Stories 11.30am to 11.45am - BREAK 11.45am to 12.45pm - Q&A: “Catching the Spirit?” The ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2026 Confirmed panellists: Laura Entwistle (Women’s T20 World Cup 2026 Strategy Implementation Lead) Donna Fraser (PCA Director of People, Equity, Diversity & Inclusion) 12.45pm - LUNCH

1.45pm to 2.45pm - Panel 3: Inclusion Ross Ensor (Leeds Beckett University) - Volunteering among ethnically diverse communities Adeela Shafi (University of Gloucestershire) - Future-Proofing Cricket: How AI-Driven, Bias-Resistant Talent Intelligence Can Transform the Game Kieran Holly (University of Huddersfield) - Why Cricket Fandom Matters: Using Irish cricket to demonstrate the need for a new research agenda in sport fan studies 2.45pm to 3.45pm - Panel 4: Representations of cricket Archit Vyas (Gujarat National Law University) - Media Coverage, Marketing and Sponsorship in Cricket: Rights, Revenue and Governance Richard Jones (University of Salford) - Cricket’s place in the sports news agenda Hannah Thompson-Radford (Swansea University) - “Stop dressing everything in pink”: Hyperfeminisation of the 2020 T20 World Cup Final 3.45pm - TEA & COFFEE 4.00pm to 5.00pm - Panel 5: Governance & Sustainability Steve Menary - Cricket’s obsession with illegal betting sponsorship Shubham Jain (University of Cambridge) - Scorched Pitches: Climate Justice and Cricket's South Asian Paradox Stephen Ross (Pennsylvania State University) - Cricket in the Public Interest: The Need for Governance Reform 5.00pm - END

Full programme for our 2026 conference now available!

Hughes Hall, Cambridge, 26 Feb
9am to 5pm

Register here: www.cricketsociety.org.uk/events/crick...

Tuvalu’s international ambitions helped by US tech bros in latest edition of @worldsoccermag.bsky.social

Illegal offshore betting websites offer wagers on U.S. college soccer games - Soccer America An investigation into the practice identified dozens of men’s and women’s games during this year's NCAA soccer season available for prop bets

They are even offering US college soccer www.socceramerica.com/illegal-offs...

Ball Street - josimarfootball.com Betting operator 1XBet, one of football’s biggest and most controversial sponsors, has been declared bankrupt for refusing to pay out to customers and faces losing its licence. At the same time the co...

Lots about 1xBet over the past few years at @josimarfootball.bsky.social inc this josimarfootball.com/2022/06/10/b...

Illegal offshore betting websites offer wagers on U.S. college soccer games - Soccer America An investigation into the practice identified dozens of men’s and women’s games during this year's NCAA soccer season available for prop bets

Inplay bets offered on amateur US college soccer by offshore sites but who is making it happen? With @jackkerr.bsky.social, @samindrakunti.bsky.social & @philippeauclair.bsky.social for @socceramerica.bsky.social & @josimarfootball.bsky.social Thanks to the FIJ www.socceramerica.com/illegal-offs...

Dirty money - josimarfootball.com Celtic proudly promotes itself as a football club with a social consciousness. For nine years the club’s main sponsor has been a betting company breaking laws, defrauding customers and wrecking lives.

Dafabet is all over English cricket, sponsoring live streams of games watched in India where betting is largely illegal. Great work by @nathanpaulsouthern.bsky.social and Lindsey Kennedy for
@josimarfootball.bsky.social @cricketacademic.bsky.social josimarfootball.com/2025/10/29/d...

A red cricket ball on grass, with players in whites visible in the background.

PANEL: Cricket, Gambling and Match-Fixing

29 October 2025
5pm-6pm (London time - GMT)

Chair: @stevemenary.bsky.social
Panelists: Dr Minhyeok Tak – Loughborough University, Anca-Maria Ghergel – Sheffield Hallam University, Will Gunn – Sporting Solutions

Open to all. DM us for the Teams link!