Benfica Faces Sanctions Probe Over €70k Russian Transfer Slip

The board of Benfica insists the club is safe from heavy punishment, yet questions still swirl around a €70,000 payment that travelled from Moscow to Lisbon during a period when the European Union had locked Russian football out of most financial channels. President Rui Costa publicly acknowledged the mishap at a tense Assembleia Geral, describing it as a mere “services error,” but prosecutors want more than reassurance. They have already frozen the money and signalled that Costa himself will be called as a formal suspect.

Why this matters beyond Luz

Portuguese supporters have watched other European teams stumble over the maze of EU sanctions against Russian entities since the 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Benfica is the first major domestic club to face an inquiry under those rules. If the Public Prosecutor’s Office decides that the encarnados ignored or bypassed red-flag warnings, Lisbon could become a reference case for how sports organisations are expected to police international transfers in wartime economies.

The hidden clause in Germán Conti’s travels

Centre-back Germán Conti never found a permanent place at the Estádio da Luz, but his journey through South America and Eastern Europe left Benfica entitled to a slice of any resale fee. When Lokomotiv Moscow flipped him to Racing Club in 2024, the Russians wired €70,000 in solidarity payments through FIFA’s Transfer Matching System. Neither the TMS dashboard nor the Portuguese bank involved triggered an alert, so club accountants booked the credit without hesitation. Only months later did investigators point out that Lokomotiv is indirectly controlled by Russia’s transport ministry, an entity covered by Brussels’ restrictions.

How the payment slipped past the filters

Costa told members that Benfica’s compliance staff relied on three guardrails: the FIFA TMS, the bank’s own sanctions screening and internal checklists. All three failed. Experts note that the TMS was designed to verify sporting data, not cross-reference every geopolitical sanction. Banking software, meanwhile, depends on updated ownership registries; Lokomotiv’s shareholding structure hides behind layers of state-linked companies that were added to sanction lists only in late 2024. The result was a legal grey zone in which the money reached Lisbon before authorities raised a flag.

Legal jeopardy for the club and its president

Under Portuguese law, breaching international restrictive measures carries penalties ranging from hefty fines to five-year prison sentences if intent is proven. Prosecutors appear to be leaning toward negligent non-compliance rather than deliberate evasion, which would translate into a monetary sanction. Still, Rui Costa will be constituted arguido as Benfica’s legal representative, a status that gives him procedural rights but also places him under formal suspicion. Former director Luís Mendes, who oversaw player trading at the time, is expected to face similar scrutiny.

Members split between caution and campaign rhetoric

With club elections approaching, rival factions have seized on the affair. Some socios accuse Costa of downplaying the matter to shield his re-election bid, pointing to the recent rejection of the 2024/25 accounts as proof of waning confidence. Others accept the president’s line that “any office-holder would be summoned” under the same circumstances. The divide echoes previous scandals—most notably the Operação Cartão Vermelho era—when legal turbulence influenced ballot boxes as much as results on the pitch.

Wider implications for Portuguese football

Benfica’s predicament serves as a warning for any Portuguese side still trading with clubs from sanctioned jurisdictions. Sporting CP severed talks with a Belarusian agent earlier this year, citing the same EU rules. FC Porto quietly cancelled a friendly in Saint Petersburg. Compliance officers across the Primeira Liga are now conducting retroactive audits of minor add-on fees buried in past transfer contracts. The Portuguese Football Federation has scheduled workshops with EU diplomats to clarify evolving sanction lists, highlighting how geopolitics can suddenly rewrite the rulebook of a globalised sport.

What happens next

The District Attorney’s Office is compiling evidence before deciding whether to file charges. If the case remains in the realm of administrative negligence, Benfica could settle with a fine and improved compliance protocols. Should investigators uncover signs of money-laundering or intentional sanction-busting, the stakes rise dramatically. For now, the €70,000 sits in a frozen account, a modest sum by football standards but a potent symbol of how a small oversight can snowball into a legal saga spanning Lisbon, Brussels and Moscow.