About Sports and Crime Briefing
Global sport has become increasingly attractive to organized crime, illegal betting syndicates and opaque financial interests. Billions move across borders, young players depend on lightly regulated intermediaries, and governing bodies are often left to investigate themselves. The result is fertile ground for match-fixing, money laundering, trafficking, corruption and abuse.
The Sports and Crime Briefing investigates how those systems work. Over the past two years, we have examined FIFA’s plan to sell shares in its commercial future, the global trafficking network built around a Portuguese football academy, a fake agent selling invented careers to young players, abuse and doping in the expanding camel-sports industry, and Russia’s gradual return to international sport. We follow the money, networks and intermediaries behind each case, and explain what the initial headline leaves out.
The Briefing is also published in French as Sport et Crime, in Spanish as Deporte y Delito, and in Portuguese as Esporte & Crime.
Every paid subscription gives The Sports and Crime Briefing more time to investigate stories that would otherwise go uncovered, particularly in countries, leagues and sports that receive little sustained scrutiny. Please consider supporting our work.
About Me
I am Chris Dalby, an investigative journalist, author and organized-crime analyst with more than a decade of experience researching criminal networks and illicit markets. I am an Associate Fellow in Organised Crime and Policing at RUSI and previously served as Managing Editor of InSight Crime, overseeing investigations and analysis of organized crime across the Americas.
In 2024, I founded World of Crime, an independent publisher and research consultancy focused on advising governments and international organizations. Its main publication, the World of Crime newsletter, produces long-form investigations and explainers on criminal organizations, illicit markets and the networks that connect them across borders.
I am the author of CJNG: A Quick Guide to Mexico’s Deadliest Cartel and Tren de Aragua: The Guide to America’s Growing Criminal Threat.
Start here
I Crunched the Numbers Behind FIFA’s Plan to Sell Shares in the World Cup. Dear God.
July 28, 2026
The Long Game: How Russia Walked Back Into World Sport
April 14, 2026
Camel Racing Taking Over the World, but Can’t Shake Animal Abuse and Doping Problems
March 20, 2026
Dreams for Sale: Inside the World of a Fake Football Agent
September 5, 2025
The Portuguese Academy and its Global Football Trafficking Network
January 24, 2025
