Our Best Stories of 2025: Murder, Torture, Match-Fixing and Futsal

Dear readers,

Let me wish you a truly Happy New Year! To all of the athletes, coaches, lawyers, integrity officers, academics, policymakers, and sports fans who read the Sports and Crime Briefing this year, thank you!

This has been an amazing year, and we look forward to bringing you way more in 2026, including our Brazilian edition launching in Q1.

For now, if you’ve missed some of our articles, please find 10 articles below that represent the best and most interesting work we did in 2025.

1 - Who Killed Cyprus’ Most Notorious Match-Fixer? And Why?

Stavros Demosthenous ran a lucrative match-fixing syndicate through Karmiotissa FC with a Russian billionaire. But his murder in October was part of a far darker criminal war.

2 - Enhanced Games CEO Says Business is Selling Drugs, Not Tickets

Selling PEDs, breaking Usain Bolt’s record, bringing down the IOC, forwarding the “enhanced” future of humanity - Aron d’Souza is not shy about the potential of the Enhanced Games. But at what cost?

3 - W…