Player Representation with a Conflict of Interest?

Dubious payments, disappointing transfers – in a club from the 2nd German Football Bundesliga, doubts arose regarding the sporting director. A board member had received information suggesting that some of these circumstances might be linked to a familial relationship – brother or half-brother – between the sporting director and a player agent who is generally closely scrutinised. The board member feared secret arrangements between the two, from which at least the agent, if not the sporting director as well, might profit. Specifically, the concerns related to transfers of registered players under contract with the agent, for whom substantial commissions are usually paid. The motive was clear: financial gain. The suspicion of nepotism was therefore raised.

 

To determine whether the sporting director actually had a brother or half-brother working as a player agent, the professional club engaged Kurtz Detective Agency. Details regarding the specific transfers or agents involved were not disclosed to our Munich investigators. The sole objective was to establish whether the sporting director had a brother, and if so, who that was.

Quo vadis – Which investigative approach was most promising?

A key challenge for our Munich private investigators in this case was that most official records do not include information about siblings. For example, the local residents’ registration office only provides information on a person’s children, not their siblings or parents. One alternative would have been to obtain the sporting director’s birth certificate from the civil registry to identify the names of his parents and then check if they had other children. A problem here: the registry would require proof of legitimate interest, which was difficult to provide discreetly. For this reason, the civil registry approach was initially set aside.

 

Since Kurtz Detective Agency has worked for numerous clients in professional football, we maintain an extensive network in the industry. The lead investigator arranged a meeting with a player agent within this network. The reasoning: the player agent industry, though financially lucrative, is relatively small, and colleagues generally know one another. If a player agent really had a familial connection to the sporting director, this informant would likely know about it.

Informant meetings with two player agents

During the meeting between our Munich economic detective and his informant, the latter made it clear from the outset that none of the names mentioned in the conversation were to appear in the investigation report, as he feared negative consequences for his job. Kurtz Investigations fully adhered to this request – both in the investigation report and in this case description. The fairly forthcoming player agent stated that the sporting director in question had once worked at a player agency and had brought in the agent now under scrutiny. According to his knowledge, this agent was indeed the brother or half-brother of the sporting director. The informant did not wish to name either the agent or the agency. However, our private investigator was able to verify the details of this agency through a review of the sporting director’s biography.

 

A second meeting with another informant, again a player agent, was arranged to further clarify the case. The meeting took place at a discreet restaurant in Grünwald, where many FC Bayern Munich players and officials reside, a place where discretion is highly valued. This informant also indicated, indirectly, that he was aware of the matter but did not wish to provide names. He did confirm, however, that the agent in question was indeed a half-brother of the sporting director, providing important insider confirmation of the original suspicion. The relationship between the agent and sporting director was described as a “familial business relationship.” From the context and phrasing, it was clear that this was a polite way of describing nepotism.

Investigative breakthrough on the third attempt

At this point, our Munich economic detectives had received two insider confirmations of varying weight from the immediate professional environment of both target individuals and the client. However, the exact identity of the sought agent remained unknown. Meanwhile, through a parallel investigation, the names of the sporting director’s parents were obtained, but as expected, the next step was blocked by the registry office due to data protection, necessitating a third investigative approach.

 

Here, the investigator first reviewed the transfers of the commissioning club during recent transfer windows and compiled a list of the involved agencies. He then examined the agents working at those agencies, encountering several former professional footballers, and sought to narrow down the potential half-brothers among these agents using the available information and a previously established criteria catalogue. Only one agency and one agent remained. As the other candidates were eliminated, the probability that this was the correct person could be considered very high. A final confirmation was now imminent. However, the commissioning football club requested Kurtz Investigations Munich to cease investigations after being informed of these findings. They stated they had all the information they needed. We naturally accepted this request, and there were several reasons to assume that the case was concluded because we had correctly identified the agent originally targeted by the club’s management.

Note

We understand that many readers will be primarily interested in the identities of the sporting director and the club. However, please understand that this text is not intended as football news but as a case report on investigative work. In the interest of client and target protection, all information and locations have been deliberately rendered vague to prevent outsiders from deducing the identities of the persons and club involved. This is the standard notice from Kurtz Investigations regarding case reports: all names and places have been altered to ensure complete anonymity for clients and target persons.

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