Antonia Monastirioti

Professional athletes have traditionally been targeted by fraudsters and a sizeable percentage of them end up as victims of investment fraud or financial scams.  The global sports business and professional players’ salaries are increasing in value each year and so do financial fraudsters.

To gain professional status and be able to play sports for a living, young athletes and the people who surround them make lots of personal sacrifices for many years. Going professional is every athlete’s dream and it oftentimes comes with fame and money. 

Regular followers of the MSA Blog will by now be acquainted with the “Sudden Wealth phenomenon”. At the very visible risk of becoming repetitive: the Sudden Wealth phenomenon relates to individuals who suddenly find themselves making exponentially more money than they previously did.

During different stages of your sports career, you will have to interact with many professionals who will help you with your athletic, financial and business endeavours. Creating the right team of trustworthy, reputable, and established professionals within any given field is important to your success. 

We tend to think of athletes as some of the most privileged people on the planet and although that is true to a certain extent, it only reveals part of the story. When we hear the word athlete immediately to mind come people like Cristiano Ronaldo, Serena Williams and Lebron James, and we usually overlook the fact that athletes of such calibre, prestige, fame and wealth are only the tip of the iceberg.

The special nature of an athletes’ career, highlights the importance of having solid written contracts for all aspects of their professional life; contracts that almost no athlete can deal with without receiving specialized advice.

Professional athletes moving abroad face a number of challenges as they settle and adjust to new realities. Signing a playing contract in a foreign country comes with a new culture, a different language and the change of a team and colleagues.