Clubs should help footballers avoid tax fraud

On Dec. 3, 2016, the website Football Leaks revealed that then-Real Madrid superstar Cristiano Ronaldo generated €50 million in marketing. The report stated that Ronaldo paid 4 percent of his total income to Hacienda -Spanish Treasury Department.

According to Spanish law, every foreign footballer who makes more than €600,000 per year should pay 43 percent in taxes.

Ronaldo was recently charged as the “responsible criminal author” of four tax crimes. He was sentenced to 23 months and 30 days of prison — time that he won’t spend in jail due to his clean record — and an economic fine of €18.8 million.

A couple of years ago, Hacienda charged Argentinean Lionel Messi with tax fraud. In his declaration to the Spanish court, Messi stated that he didn’t have any clue of what was happening. “I dedicate to play soccer,” he said. “The attorneys were in charge of the things; I didn’t have any idea of anything.”

Both cases demonstrate an evident offense to the law, and there’s little doubt about it. However, aren’t third persons involved in the process of these frauds?

The life of an athlete is short, and it begins at a very young age. The vast majority of elite soccer players will never get a high school or college diploma. Many of them can’t read or speak a foreign language proficiently.

There are no hard numbers to show the general level of schooling in soccer. However, former Spanish player Borja Criado stated in his article The education of a professional soccer player: the vision of a former player that only four out of a squad of 22 players finished a bachelor’s degree, including himself.

Criado described how different it is to live in the real world, because “soccer players earn an enormous quantity of money for doing what they like that they’re not conscious of the monetary value of the things they own.”

A player develops an absolute faith with the people that surround him or her, often tasking them with full responsibility for the player’s bank account balance, future investments and legal duties.

Soccer institutions should instruct players about the importance of their financial obligations with the government. At the very least, the club should grant them a lawyer or an economic adviser to help them with their taxes and financial situations. Some agents have proven that they can’t manage this topic correctly. Jorge Mendes represented Falcao, Ronaldo, Mourinho, and Coentrao when Hacienda charged each of them with tax fraud. Mendes was a target of Football Leaks and his methodology of tax evasion was publicly exposed.

Education doesn’t play a role inside the pitch, but it is fundamental outside of it. Athletes must know about their legal responsibilities that a citizen or resident has so they can follow the first rule of parenting: Do not trust strangers. And clubs should be responsible to impart help to the players as a civil obligation, so none of them get popped for tax fraud.

Follow Luis on Twitter: @LFulloa.

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